Kyouya, The Gamer
by Ourliazo
Summary: We are all fu-ked now.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to left and trips over. Gamer AU.

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* * *

"I'll bite you to death."

The cold, blank voice chases a shiver up their spines and they snap around to stare at the Demon Prefect of Namimori. One of the girls opens her mouth and closes it again in wordless horror, mind blank in the face of an apex predator. Her boyfriend takes a very abrupt step behind her.

They watch in terror as Kyouya smoothly stalks closer in a disturbingly loose manner, as if he was liquid death. He stops centimetres from one of the boys and tilts his head in consideration, scanning the spray cans the teenagers hold and taking into account the splashes of colour along the brick wall, denoting the tagging.

"Five," he states.

There's no reply from the group: flight not working and fight leading to tonfa even quicker.

"Four," Kyouya drawls, rolling his shoulders and loosening up in preparation.

One of the girls catches on, taking a step back and freezing again when Kyouya locks onto her.

"Three," he warns.

They break, dropping their spray cans and bags, and go shooting off into different directions, every person for themselves.

"Two," Kyouya practically purrs, tracking the weakest with half-lidded eyes.

The last one turns the corner just as metal slots into his hands, the custom weapons feeling like bliss.

"One."

* * *

The world rushes by as Mina puts on a burst of speed, her track team pride carrying her onward more than anything. She didn't dare stop, even though the stitch in her side was killing her and every gasp brought in air that set her throat on fire.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw that same figure vault from roof to roof, chasing her through Namimori's streets. She supposes she should consider herself special, most of the others had been taken down in the first ten minutes, despite sprinting in opposite directions. She lets out a laugh that turns into a sob and takes the corner at a pace that almost sends her slamming into a light pole.

Her eyes lock onto a red brick wall splashed with colour, bags and spray cans scattered around the side walk. A feeling bubbles up from her chest, spreading out to her limbs. It's only when she finds herself slowing into a complete stop does she recognise it as hopelessness.

She doesn't even see his attack.

* * *

Kyouya straightens his shirt, the clothing rumpled from his hunt, and pulls the gakuran more firmly onto his shoulders. He counts it as a good deed, the head start more than gracious to crowding herbivores.

As Kyouya continues his patrol route, from the exact spot he found the vandals thanks to his herding, he catches sight of a slightly crumpled ball of paper. He deviates to the other side of the road to pick it up, heading for the closest bin while mentally tallying how much pain littering costs even as he straightens out the lined paper in bored curiosity.

The paper has strange squiggles on it, evidently not any language Kyouya knows. He squints and makes an approximate guess for English, lining up 'tourist' as his first suspect.

A high pitch ring sounds almost the same time Kyouya's hand spasms from a sharp pain then goes slack. The paper drops to the floor. He stills for a split second and then picks it up again, ignoring the feeling of needles that flares up when he moves his hand.

He only notices that the paper is blank when he raises his hand over the edge of the bin. His eyes slide across and he blinks at the black lettering, painfully obvious against the pale white of his wrist, crossing over blue veins and wrapping around like handcuffs.

The lines of writing pulse a brilliant white and disappear. His hand clenches unconsciously, crumpling the paper as the pain fades to a throb. He drops the paper into the bin and turns to finish his patrol, disregarding the after echoes of pain that seeps up his arm.

Between one step and the next -

[You have unlocked 'Procrastinator'

Procrastinator: Level 1

The Procrastinator skill levels up with pain tolerance and allows the user to ignore any and all pain for a set time limit. The limit extends by five minutes whenever the Procrastinator skill is levelled up.]

Kyouya comes to an abrupt halt and stares at the electric blue words embedded in an almost translucent rectangle, floating just to the left of his immediate vision. He reads through and glances down at his now pain free left hand.

He wasn't stupid, he could put two and two together. Obviously, someone had poisoned him when he wasn't looking. The only altercation he had been in today was with the vandalising teens. He needed to track them down and bite them to death. His stride is determined when he backtracks to the last herbivore he took down.

[You have unlocked 'Sighting Prey'

Sighting Prey: Level 1

The Sighting Prey skill levels up with killing intent and lessens the opponents Will stat by one point every hour. Levelling up Sighting Prey quickens the loss of will. Opponents half the users level and under will automatically loose ten percent of their Will stat when Sighting Prey is used.]

Kyouya narrows his eyes and quickens his stride, tonfa dropping into his waiting hands. The screen disappears after a few seconds, and it was translucent enough that his vision wasn't obstructed, but it still made him tap his fingers against his tonfa, counting out the fluttery heartbeat of an herbivore.

[Sighting Prey: level 2]

His hand throbs.

[Procrastinator: level 2]

A snarl of wrath leaves him.

[Sighting Prey: level 3]

* * *

Kyouya slams the front door closed with more force than necessary, stalking through the house and straight up to the roof for a nap. His mood had been completely ruined thanks to the suicidal herbivore who attacked him, worsening when the vandalising teens had no idea what he was talking about.

When he got to the roof, the sky was already bleeding from blue to orange to a bloody red.

He stretches out on his back, but can't calm down enough to sleep, eyes flicking open just as he becomes comfortable only to dart around for the herbivore who poisoned him.

He stares up at the slowly darkening sky, a frown on his face as he thought back to what one of the vandals asked.

"Is there a pause function?" Kyouya mimics and scoffs, only to jolt when that same high tone, like when the trouble first started, sounds and another screen of light blue pops into existence.

[Avatar

Map

Options

Continue]

Kyouya scowls and reached up to knock it away but the screen flickers and split.

[Hibari Kyouya - Carnivore

Skills

Main menu]

Not even seeing the words on the left third of the screen, Kyouya stares at a small full body image of himself that rotates slowly in the right two thirds. It's wearing the Namimori middle's school uniform on, an exact replica of Kyouya's.

Underneath it is multiple little squares, all empty apart from the three that had a phone, his tonfa, and a small box of hard candy.

He reaches into his pocket without taking his eyes off the screen, pulling out hard candy. The item leaves the little box but the spinning mannequin of him suddenly has the same box in its hand.

An idea occurs to him and he slowly reaches up with the candy, pressing the item into the screen. It disappears from his and the mannequins hand at the same time, but reappears in the item box.

An amused smirk quirks his lips before he catches himself.

Realistically, he is probably hallucinating. It's strange, since he can't say he has played a lot of games, but it makes more sense than the other option.

He reaches up, blank faced, and taps the word Skills, finger slipping through the screen.

[Procrastinator

Sighting Prey

Locked

Avatar]

He scrolls down, frowning at the multiple boxes with the word Locked on them, before deciding he didn't care. This is pointless either way.

"Continue," he says, humouring the part that says he should treat this seriously just in case he can carry more weapons this way. He rolls onto his side and forces his body into sleep.

* * *

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A/N: I am well aware of the fact that I'm going to make Kyouya far too over powered. I'm not sorry about it, this is just a warning.

Also, why hasn't anyone done this before? Am I just not looking hard enough for Gamer! Kyouya?


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to left and trips over. Gamer AU.

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* * *

Kyouya laces his fingers, raising his arms above his head and stretching with a wide yawn, bending backwards until his hands touch the ground in a bridge and then kicking off into a handstand then flip before finally straightening up and brushing his hands off on his pants.

He locks on to the Disciplinary Committee herbivore standing in the doorway of the room Kyouya commandeered from the school. The boy was simply gaping at him but snaps out of it when Kyouya raises an eyebrow, and bows.

"Chairman, Kusakabe-san's reports are here," the teen said, lifting the manila folder in evidence.

Kyouya nods to the table where the files are then placed before he dismisses the herbivore, who fast walks in order to get away while still not breaking any school rules. He retakes his seat and flips through the folder to find the location, intent on starting the day off with blood.

He reaches the last page and picks it up, but before he can even start reading a blue screen pops up.

[You have received a quest!

Undertaking quests will give you various rewards upon completion.

Quest: I love the smell of tonfa in the morning

You are to discipline the herbivores crowding the back of Namimori high school.

Reward: unlock 'Patrol'

Accept?]

Kyouya pointedly ignores the delusion, sticking with his decision from last night, and reads the paper through the translucent blue.

He clenches his jaw in annoyance when the report states literally the exact same as the screen.

[Sighting Prey: level 4]

He mentally scans the herbivores with access to the files in any stage of their completion but no one stands out as the one who poisoned him.

He drops the paper and flicks through yesterday's folder.

[You have received a quest!

Quest: It's all fun and games until people start crowding

You are to break up the street gang forming on the borders of Namimori and Kokuyo.

Reward: unlock 'Armoury'

Accept?]

The chair tips over and clatters to the ground as Kyouya stands, snatching his gakuran from the couch arm as he stalks out of the room.

[Sighting Prey: level 5]

* * *

Ten minutes later, the quest screens not having moved from his periphery, Kyouya finds himself in front of Namimori high. He strides through the gates, paying no attention to the scattering of students with free time.

Kyouya hears the herbivores before he sees them, the loud braying laughter making him bristle at the noise pollution. He turns the last corner and spies a rough looking group half hidden behind a cluster of trees. The smell of cigarettes permeate the air in a dense cloud. Kyouya can practically taste the ash, almost as easily as his tonfa can taste their flesh.

[Sighting Prey: level 6]

A shout goes up as one of them sees Kyouya. They leap to their feet and snarl in warning, some hunching themselves to look bigger and others shrinking back, all of them tense in the face of danger.

He does the opposite of his prey even as tonfa drop into his hands, loosening up his limbs as the feeling of something akin to home spreads through his blood with every calm heartbeat.

This is his territory. It shouldn't take too long, there's no need to get worked up about it.

"I'll bite you to death," he promises.

The first goes down before they can blink, and Kyouya smoothly transitions to the next, slamming them down viciously with a hit to the temple as he hooks his foot around their ankle. They half flip from the attack, unconscious before they hit the ground.

Kyouya pauses then, staring at the handful of yen on the floor, where the herbivore had once been. He turns his attention to the other crowding pests and notices that they have no other reaction to their friend convalescing into money, but to charge at him. Kyouya shrugs and lunges forward in attack.

* * *

Only the last herbivore also bursts into money, scattering the notes in all directions, and a pack of cigarettes flop onto the ground. Kyouya quirks an eyebrow but tucks his tonfa away and picks up the carton, intent on finding a bin.

[Cigarettes: These cancer sticks of death give you an unlimited flame source for as long you can keep them in your mouth, but decrease your health by one point every minute.

Use

Sell]

Kyouya rolls his eyes and pegs it clean across the school's backyard, over a crop of trees on the far end and into a bin. Then Kyouya, very intently ignoring the rest of the loot, spins on his heel to walk away. He freezes when the cash disappears.

A screen flashes at him, mocking, detailing the money he just earned. It's soon replaced with the original quest screen that shifts as well.

[Quest: I love the smell of tonfa in the morning

Complete

Reward: unlock 'Patrol'

You have unlocked 'Patrol'

Patrol allows certain points on your map to become breeding grounds for enemies. Complete Patrols for experience and prizes that enemies drop.]

Kyouya narrows his eyes, and reminds himself to brush up on game jargon, but presumes Patrol is another word for Dungeon where it's mostly hack and slash by people who want to level up.

A voice in the back of his head tells him he can have lots of fun with this, and wasn't he curious as to what the boss could be? Another backs up the first by acknowledging Kyouya would go on patrols anyway, why not ones where he knew he would get a good run?

Kyouya shuts both of them up by reasoning that they were projections of his poison induced insanity. There is no more to be said.

* * *

He heads into town, still determinately ignoring the quest screen for Kokuyo. He wasn't going to chase these delusions, he was simply on his patrol and the route carried him by the high school.

Although... he's having a hard time placing what the herbivores are in all this. Are they a part of the poison's side effects or does the illusion flow on from real life events, such as kicking in after Kyouya beats the crowding herbivores and creating the money?

If it's an extension of reality then Kyouya can ignore its fumblings and distractions. If it conjures up whole situations for Kyouya then that too is avoidable. However, Kyouya has no way of knowing if it's the first or second option, or even if everything Kyouya sees is a fake.

The delusions seem to be obvious, almost screaming their presence, but Kyouya understands enough about tactics to know that if he lets his guard down and focuses on the screens and the illogical 'prizes' then he could let something else slip through.

It's already proven that it can affect the reports Kyouya receives, which opens a large crack in Namimori's armour, because if Kyouya doesn't discipline the herbivores they'll take it as a sign of weakness and attack.

Worse still, it can completely hide an herbivore from Kyouya's senses. Perhaps these 'quests' test out the ability and wannabe carnivores are already planning how to make the ability most useful.

The thoughts make him uneasy, slowing his stride and straining his senses in effort to catch the slightest hint of an attack.

[Sighting Prey: level 7]

Kyouya hates illusions.

Then logic kicks in.

How does the poison even work? If it effects the entirety of Kyouya's perception then how can it stay logical (as logical as it can get at least) and not turn into some drug induced dream where the sky is green and the water is fire? If it's an extension then when can it know to start, and again, how can it stay logical with regards to the 'abilities' levelling up - they seems to be levelling up quickly but still in numerical order and in a consistent fashion.

It couldn't be that the drug goes off Kyouya's reasoning, because no matter how extreme his imagination gets, it would never be a game simulation.

Kyouya scowls in frustration, barely keeping in a snarl, and runs a hand through his hair, nails running along his scalp in a soothing fashion.

He would play, he decides, and perhaps that would call out the perpetrator -or at least make them relax enough to slip up- and then Kyouya would strike.

A slow smile spreads across his face, almost sweet on the middle schooler. That is, if one ignores the half lidded eyes, lost in fantasies of blood and bone.

[Sighting Prey: level 8]

* * *

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A/N: You guys can suggest skills and things, I'm kind of a complete novice in regards to RPGs.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to left and trips over. Gamer AU.

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* * *

Having decided to play, Kyouya changes directions from Namimori's shopping centre to Kokuyo. He even opens the map.

[Map:

Party Members: Red dots

Flame Active: Blue triangles

Quest: Green flags

Enemies: White squares

Patrols: White pentagons

Main Menu]

The right two thirds hold a map of Namimori and a large purple dot moving towards the border signifies Kyouya. He enthusiastically memorises any Patrols and promises to treat himself to one on the way back from the quest.

Admittedly, he takes a small detour to deal with a white square ([Sighting Prey: level 9]), breaking the man's sacral vertebrae (all of them, just to be conscientious) and ushering the traumatised child away from the now paraplegic, screaming trash. Unfortunately, while Kyouya was watching the mother finally spot the child and rush over, someone found the prokaryote and called an ambulance.

Kyouya left it – he'll find the hospital room later.

When he arrived at the green flag on the map he found himself surrounded by abandoned cars and empty factories; a breeding ground for noisy herbivores. It doesn't take long for them to emerge from their hiding spots.

"What are you doing here, Hibari?" one of them calls out bravely, the confident act ruined by how he stays behind a wall of others.

Kyouya's reply is to slip his gakuran off his shoulders.

"W-we don't want you here!" another stutters out.

Kyouya places the gakuran so it was hanging off a car's side mirror, the glass inside surprisingly uncracked considering the rest of it's peers are under the feet of nervously shuffling delinquents, the teens crushing and grinding the glass into the dirt.

"You better leave now before we make you," a calm voice rises up and the herbivores part for the tall teen, perhaps seventeen to nineteen like the rest.

Tonfa fall into his hands.

* * *

The screen details the cash dropped from the herbivores, but the next has the items.

[Cigarettes x 5

Shank – level 2 x 2: The crude rendition of a knife deals little damage but is very fast to use. Damage rises with level.

Dagger - level 1: This weapon is very fast to use and can be thrown, but causes low damage. Damage rises with level.

Chain – level 1: Can be used as a long range weapon but causes low damage. Damage rises with level.

Bullet x 3: Needs a gun and deals very high damage.

Gangster bandanna: Worn on the head gives increases infamy by three. Worn around neck decreases enemies' perception.

Thigh bone: When eaten, the marrow increases health by two percent.]

Kyouya raises an eyebrow at the last one, not remembering amputating anyone's leg, but shrugs it off and focuses on the quest screen change.

[Quest: It's all fun and games until people start crowding

Complete

Reward: unlock 'Armoury'

You have unlocked 'Armoury'

When active, Armoury allows all weapons in your inventory to be instantly accessible by calling out their name. Lasts for five minutes and levels up by one minute with use. Recharge time is ten minutes.

To activate an ability, either find the skill in the Avatar menu or say "Activate: (skill)".]

"Activate Armoury, dagger," Kyouya murmurs, watching his tonfa closely to see them flicker away while one dagger replaces them in his left hand. He wonders if the weapons appears in his left on random or if the game knows he's ambidextrous.

He hefts the weapon and admits it's not bad. He pulls his arm back and launches it, the knife spinning blade over handle until it lodges up to the hilt in a wooden crate.

"Dagger," Kyouya tries, but the game doesn't recall the weapon to him so he goes to retrieve it.

"Tonfa and dagger," he says and observes the two different weapons in his hands. He cocks his head to the side and tests if Armoury levels with time used or weapons swapped. "Tonfa, dagger, chain, dagger, chain, tonfa-"

[Armory: level 2]

Kyouya rolls his eyes at how easy this was. "Deactivate Armoury." He then sells all of the loot but for the dagger. He kind of likes the idea where his tonfa could launch the dagger – he'd have to look into it.

[You have unlocked 'Weapon Smith'

Weapon Smith allows you to build or customise your own weapons. Levels up with use, and with higher levels you can build more elaborate weapons.]

Kyouya is lost for a moment, his eyes glazed with the thought of his tonfa with spikes.

[Sighting Prey: level 10]

Time to patrol.

His smile is ever so sweet.

* * *

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A/N: Ugh, maybe the items drop was a bad idea.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to left and trips over. Gamer AU.

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* * *

Kyouya stares up at the dark mansion he knows for a fact wasn't in Namimori before he was poisoned. There is a large number seven on the letter box, presumably the difficulty level. A shriek of horror comes from within and the shadows around it grow deeper.

Kyouya glances over his shoulder at the bright blue sky and well-lit streets.

He faces the mansion again, taking in the dark storm swirling threatening overhead and the scattering of gravestones.

He looks back to a mother and child laughing happily as they eat ice cream.

Then to the fog starting up.

.

.

.

Kyouya will bite this illogical illusion to death.

He strides for the door and stomps particularly hard on a skeletal hand that shoots out of the ground. Bones crunch and Kyouya smiles.

He takes the front steps two at a time, becoming excited, and rolls his eyes at how the front door opens with a creak before he can reach for the handle.

He slips inside and tonfa drop to his hands. He looks left down a corridor filled with miasma so thick only shadowy figures could be seen darting around. He looks right into a broken and smashed corridor that twists and turns, the entire structure flipping upside down at one point as it moves further away. He looks up, the stairs to the next level looking safe.

He's about to turn left but a figure steps out of an upstairs corridor. Its spindly and tall, limbs having an extra joint while fingers and toes are elongated and sharp like knives. It lifts a hand and beckons Kyouya with a finger.

Well, it would be rude reject such an invitation.

The grin on Kyouya's face is wild as he leaps up the stairs.

* * *

"Activate Armoury, dagger," Kyouya orders, already pulling an arm back to throw.

The dagger spins and lodges itself in the spindly opponent's skull. It simply continues lumbering forwards, moving jerkily like the joints are stiff. Kyouya knows it's a trap, the Patrol monsters moving insanely fast when he gets within a certain distance.

"Tonfa," Kyouya barks out as he darts forward, ducking the fast swipe at his head and leaping up to hammer in the knife with a swing.

The head forms glowing cracks and shatters into tiny pieces, the rest of the body following. Kyouya rips out the knife and lands on the other side of the defeated opponent, continuing down the last corridor, the one to the right on the first level.

Three steps in and he scowls in annoyance at having to jump over the broken furniture and dodge crumbling walls and the roof. A hip high rat-thing falls through the ceiling and Kyouya sighs in annoyance. He hates these things.

The knife is thrown again and Kyouya takes shelter behind part of a table that had been flipped over. The knife connects, sinking into the creatures eye and the head shatters just like the spindly ones, but this time shrapnel flies out, slicing up anything it hits.

Kyouya stands from behind the table and surveys the damage. It's much worse when there are more than one, because one dying had a cascade effect and if you weren't already behind shelter, you weren't going to get away unscathed.

The timer runs out then and Procrastinator abruptly stops working. Kyouya gasps in shock at the sudden pain and locks his knees. It wan't surprising with his side bleeding freely from underestimating the speed of the first spindly monster and the multiple deep cuts from the exploding vermin when he didn't duck behind shelter fast enough.

Procrastinator was useless because even though it did take away pain, the shock of it coming back made Kyouya pause, and that distracted him from the fight, even for a split second. Not to mention it wasn't a steady build of injuries, it was everything at once, every time Procrastinator cut out.

Kyouya growls. Without bothering to lift a finger he mentally calls up the menu screen and quickly flicks through to find the skill. He glares at the information and the words warp like heat waves off a road, distorting the electric blue characters. It almost seems to struggle against Kyouya's silent demand but dissipates all the same.

He rocks back on his heels, amused now. The screen blinks out quickly despite Kyouya not ordering it to. It almost seems frustrated.

The screen seems to be developing a personality, if you could call it that. It made no difference to Kyouya, but it was fascinating in a 'can I bite it to death?' kind of way. He reminds himself to try later.

For now, he has a Patrol to finish.

He continues down the corridor, the twisting quality effecting his gravity so he was at one point walking along the wall and then the ceiling before back down to the floor. A minute in and it's already too much for the impatient teen. The other corridors held fast paced action with multiple enemies at any one time.

He's about to simply sprint through but a haunting melody filled the air. It sounded like an old nursery rhyme sung by a little girl. He concentrates but he can't pin point the sound that seems to be coming from everywhere at once. He briefly wonders if the other Patrols are any more original than this haunted house cut out.

He swerves around a bundle of torn and stained fabric and turns a corner, only to stop at the dead end. He hears quiet sniffles start up behind him like someone was trying to hold back tears. If the pile of fabric has a little possessed girl hiding under it, Kyouya is going to be very disappointed.

"A-are you here to save me from the monsters?" comes a soft, hesitant voice.

Kyouya turns to see the girl had indeed emerged from the cloth and was staring up at him with wide eyes. He could play along and see if the creature would sneak attack him, or if the girl had been poisoned the same as Kyouya and was now stuck in this place. He takes a short cut though, and brings up a map, zooming in on the purple dot. It was right next to a white square - an enemy.

Then again, if Kyouya is delusional, the poison can be messing with him and he'll hurt a child, if he hasn't already murdered the family previously occupying this house.

The girl suddenly opens her mouth, the jaw becoming unhinged as her head falls back and large spider legs start emerging from her throat, smaller spiders scuttling out from under the stained blankets by her feet.

Fuck no.

Well, insanity is a solid defence in a court of law.

* * *

[Miasma bomb x 2: This item is akin to a smoke bomb and does damage when opponents breathe it in.

Book: Secrets of the Mist.

Sickle Skin: The monster's skin is incredibly tough and can form armour if your Weapon Smith skill is levelled up enough. It gives you higher defence when worn.

Sickle Bone x 7: It's very sharp and hard to break, not to mention surprisingly aerodynamic.

Amrack Skull x 8: This item can turn into a shrapnel bomb with a little tinkering from your Weapon Smith skill.

Spider Silk Whip: When used, the tough silk lends you a higher attacking speed.]

"Activate Armoury, Sickle Bone," Kyouya says, and examines the weapon when it forms in his hand. The bone was as long as his hand from wrist to the top of his middle finger and weighed practically nothing.

He pegs it at the front door, and from where he was sitting half way up the steps, it hits the wood and sinks in until Kyouya couldn't see it any more. Yeah, that was going in his tonfa.

Kyouya was too busy working out the mechanisms for turning his tonfa into a dart gun to pay attention to the screen that pops up.

[You have completed Patrol-7

Reward: You have unlocked 'Nap'

Nap will allow certain areas to be safe grounds where nothing can attack you. Take a nap in a Nap and recharge your health.]

.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all the suggestions for skills and things that Kyouya could achieve. It seems we think alike, I'd planned most of it out already.

Okay, be patient with me, I haven't even started cannon so Kyouya has a lot of time to figure things out.

Next is the result of his tinkering (you'll all recognise it as an earlier Roll).


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to left and trips over. Gamer AU.

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* * *

The next day, Kyouya finds himself stepping into the Disciplinary room and dropping his gakuran on the table. He wanders over to the couch and flops down onto it, the fall more graceful than any flop had the right to be. Tucking one hand under his head on the armrest and raising a knee so he can cross the other one over it, he sighs in happiness at how soft the couch is.

He had stayed up all night figuring out the newest weapons and playing around with the Weapon Smith ability.

Comfortable now, Kyouya calls up the screen with a lazy flick of his wrist and taps lightly on the intangible blue until he reaches the items menu. His eyes skim past the weapons he's put in, the small boxes rather bare since he threw out most of the creature drops.

He eyes find the odd book and he calls it into existence with a poke. He has to grab it with both hands but the annoyance at the shift in position is cancelled out when a screen pops up.

[Book: Secrets of the Mist

Do you want to learn Secrets of the mist?

Yes/No]

Kyouya felt his eyes roll in exasperation almost without him noticing. The logic of this poison was ridiculous.

Then a thought occurs to him. He drops the book on the floor and slips off the couch, making his way to the desk and opening a drawer to find his chemistry text book.

[Book: Introduction to Chemistry fifth edition

Do you want to learn Introduction to Chemistry fifth edition?

Yes/No]

An unholy grin spreads across Kyouya's face and he taps on the yes square. It takes a moment but he finally remembers how to calculate pH. Other than that he gets nothing, which isn't really a surprise. He's hardly failing chemistry.

Curiosity satisfied, he tucks the book back into the drawer and wanders back to the couch, snatching up the Mist book as he rolls back onto the couch and ends in his previous position. He calls up the screen again, the blue eagerly appearing just before his fingers.

He taps yes and promptly blacks out.

* * *

When he comes to it's with a blind rage that would have seen another person in jail for life because of an inevitable murder spree. Blue windows pop up with an alarming intensity (counting out his bloodlust desperately - as if it could possibly keep track) but Kyouya barely sees it.

Kyouya rips his couch into shreds, in lieu of a human.

He kneels there, in the mess of wood and cloth no better than mush, and reminds himself to stock up on bleach for the blood stains.

Because he's going to bite to death the herbivore who though to play with Hibari Kyouya. _He'll carve his anger into their chest and crack open their ribs_ , _**scrape his nails through the pericardium so he can gorge on their heart.**_

He lets out a slow breath and blinks, registering the focused destruction for the first time.

Kyouya stands slowly, brushing off the couch remains that cling to him. He has to take a moment to simply stand there and breathe but when his wrath dies down to a normal level, he can admit he was caught off guard. He may have over reacted, just a little. He runs a hand through his hair. He has a plan, so he will wait. There's no point in chasing ghosts. These Mist users though… they sound really annoying.

Kyouya makes his way to the door, snatching his jacket from the table as he leaves. He spots a pompadour and snaps his fingers, the sound making the committee member jolt and rush to him.

"Clean the mess in there, and order a new couch," Kyouya says, gliding past the confused expression.

He needs a nap.

* * *

The door to the middle school's roof slides open on soundless hinges, but Kyouya still wakes up.

[Nap has restored health to full.]

In annoyance he simply closes his eyes again.

"Oh, it's you," says the white haired intruder.

* * *

After another Man's Duel with Hibari, Ryohei is secretly treating his wounds on the roof again in order to not get Kyoko concerned.

The black haired boy is there as well, and despite the fact that they had only spoken once before (it was only Ryohei talking but it counted, right?) Ryohei feels a kinship.

Ryohei smiles at the figure lying across the roof. The teen has one leg tossed over the other and his hands are laced on his stomach, the Namimori gakuran serving as a make shift pillow.

"It's been a while," Ryohei starts but his next step forward makes his ribs protest and a hiss escapes him. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes shallow breaths until the pain fades to a less intense level. He opens his eyes only to find the boy staring up at him. Ryohei tries for a grin. "S-Sorry! I'm not well."

The boy simply looks up at Ryohei.

"You're up here on the rooftop alone again," Ryohei says, noticing the icy gaze but brushing it off. "Is it a habit of yours?"

The reply is silence.

"I've been worried about not seeing you again," Ryohei admits, his kind heart too big for his own good. "I thought you might be lonely, up here by yourself. Come to the boxing club."

The boy sighs, his hands unlacing so one could reach up to skim his jacket.

"I'm feeling sad now; I don't want you to be all alone," Ryohei pouts, gazing at the horizon off the roof. It really is a beautiful view from up here. His face suddenly lit up with an idea. "Okay! To cheer us up, I'll tell you about my extreme fighting with Hibari."

The boy pauses, fingers hooked lightly around the tonfa handle tucked into his gakuran.

"I feel like our friendship strengthens every time we exchange blows," Ryohei says happily, shadow boxing only lightly to not increase his injuries.

"Really?"

Ryohei glances down at the other teen when he speaks and, seeing the faint quirk of the lips, grins in response. "Yeah. I'm sure that Hibari will become my friend soon enough. In this fight I was barely good enough, so-"

The teen stands, interrupting Ryohei, and pulls the gakuran onto his shoulders with a smooth move.

"Hey," Ryohei calls out. "Where are you going? I haven't even started on my battle with Hibari."

The black haired teen simply slips through the door and leaves the roof.

Ryohei frowns at the rude exit but an idea occurs to him. "My talking must have cheered him up incredibly fast!" Gleefully, Ryohei plants his hands on his hips and laughs, but the emotion quickly upsets his ribs. The pain reminds him that he was actually up on the roof to fix himself up.

* * *

.

A/N: Parts of this (generally most) comes from **Reborn! Hidden Bullet Novel Series,** and is the fifth volume (Shimon cooking!) and first chapter (Extreme memories).

Translated copy of the novel is here: aallenwalker. tumblr. c o m. post/ 19225413996/ secret-bullet-novel

The next chapter will also have parts of Extreme Memories (I couldn't leave it out, it was too good).

Also, are you guys okay with a pairing, and if so, what do you think it should be?


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

The next afternoon, Kyouya finds himself standing in the middle of the Disciplinary Committee room, testing his newest tricks. He hadn't linked his tonfa and the Sickle Bone yet, but he did manage a few things since his Patrol.

Kyouya places his hands at the small of his back and forms the usual grip he has for the tonfa. They flicker into existence in his hands. He raises them into his line of sight and scans the two weapons for any imperfections.

There aren't any, of course.

He flicks his wrists and the tonfa spin. He holds them to the small of his back and they vanish from his hands when he lets go.

He presses a hand to his thigh then, and slides it up to his hip. A Sickle Bone forms in his fingers and he holds it up to the light of the morning sun. The weapon was a dull white in the standard Sickle Bone length.

He tosses it up, watching in satisfaction as the spin factor casts it into a circle of white. He catches it and flips it over and between his fingers, getting a feel for the weight first before tossing it between his hands and up into the air. His spins become more elaborate and the weapon seems to vanish from his hands only to reappear in the air from how fast he was moving.

The door opens behind him and Kyouya twists around, launching the weapon at the intruder. The Sickle Bone snaps out into six more, jutting out at different angles and all connected at the middle.

Kusakabe's eyes fly wide open and he ducks the large ball of spikes. There was no need to bother dodging, as Kyouya's throw was aimed for the wall beside Kusakabe's head instead of a true headshot. The ball buries itself in the plaster with a quiet crunch and sticks.

Kyouya hums, satisfied with his work.

"Hibari-san…" Kusakabe tries, not sure if he should address the elephant in the room (or the spiked ball of death, if you were to be specific) but ends up wiping the last few seconds of memory from his mind instead. He straightens properly and braces himself. "You called, Chairman?"

"Did you put things in order?" Kyouya asks despite knowing the answer. Sometimes it was amusing to watch the herbivores back themselves into a corner. He steps past the larger teen and pulls out the weapon from the wall.

Kusakabe says nothing, tensing even more with Kyouya at his back. He wonders if he should respond with the truth, but he can't seem to move his mouth. The guilt at failing the teen is nothing compared to the threat of being bitten to death.

"Evidently not," Kyouya murmurs, folding the spikes back into one and taping his hip with it. The weapon vanishes from his hand. "I shouldn't have to repeat myself."

Kusakabe gulps when Kyouya rounds his side and brushes past the older teen's sleeve, uncaring of the icy feeling he leaves behind.

"How long have you been playing with him?" Kyouya demands, spinning on his heel when he reaches the desk and hoping up to sit on it.

It may have looked childish had anyone else done it, but when Kyouya leans back on his hands and swings his legs lightly, toes not even able to brush the floor, it seems more mocking than anything. After all, Kusakabe knows full well how powerful the boy is, despite his slight appearance.

"He said that he was close to becoming boxing friends with Hibari," Kyouya continues, before dropping his voice low. "Care to explain?"

"A-about that-" Kusakabe stutters out quickly, about to hold up his hands in defence before he manages to control himself. "About that matter; Sasagawa Ryohei is not someone who listens. I've told him many times that I'm not Hibari Kyouya but…"

Kyouya lets out a sigh.

Kusakabe flinches at the rhythmic tapping the Chairman's nail make against the table as the smaller teen looks away, a sure sign he was getting bored. What follows is usually never good.

"Moreover," Kusakabe tries quickly. "Sasagawa is unmistakably a superior member of the boxing club. The reason I haven't crushed him is for Namimori's reputation…"

[Sighting Prey: level 38]

"Are you disobeying me?"

Kusakabe finds himself paralysed under Kyouya's stare.

Kyouya pushes himself off the table and stalks forward to stop centimetres from Kusakabe. "Was I unclear is some way?" he asks quietly.

Kusakabe can only shake his head.

"Then did you perhaps forget?" Kyouya suggests lightly and then deadpans, "Shall I carve it into you?"

Kusakabe chokes a little at the joke, still unused to the Chairman's humour, but manages to rush the words out. "It's not necessary."

"Not… necessary?"

"Yes," Kusakabe responds, eyes sightless from where he was staring over Kyouya's head. "Sasagawa Ryohei was attacked yesterday afternoon and he is now in Namimori Hospital with serious injuries. The ambush was conducted by the street gang you took care of near the warehouses – they though he was your friend."

Kyouya hums, tracing his eyes over Kusakabe's expression before flicking a hand in dismissal.

* * *

"Hibari-san!" calls out a soft voice, and light footsteps hurry after the Prefect.

Kyouya stops, turning slightly to see a primary school child skid to a stop in front of him.

"Hibari-san," she says brightly. "It's good to finally meet you. My brother has talked a lot about you – he says you're a great friend."

The nearby herbivores shudder in fear and quickly clear the hallway.

"I- I was wondering," she starts, gazing up at him with wide eyes. "Since brother can't be in the tournament from his injuries, that you would be able to take his place?"

Kyouya reaches out slowly for the little girl, and pats the small animal on the head.

* * *

"…Chairman?" Kusakabe blurts out in shock, having just entered the tournament building to find a black haired teen vault gracefully into the boxing ring. He can't believe what he's seeing.

A slight figured boy wearing a blood red Disciplinary Committee armband on his left sleeve is standing in the boxing ring. Compared to the competitors, all teens of ridiculous height and bulging muscle, Hibari looks far too delicate.

"What's wrong?" Kyouya asks no one in particular.

"Why would _you_ come to the match?" calls out an anonymous person from the crowd. "You're not in the boxing club."

Kyouya wasn't going to bother answering, but either way another voice calls out.

"Aren't you the rooftop guy?"

Kusakabe jerks into motion, turning to find Ryohei making his way to the ring with a heavy limp, his bandages poking out from under his clothes. The teen had definitely escaped the hospital before he was properly discharged, most likely to compete regardless of his injuries.

Kyouya leans on the ropes of the ring, peering down at Ryohei in amusement.

"Why are you here?" Ryohei asks in confusion.

Kyouya didn't say anything for a while. He seems to be savouring the stunned reaction with a calm smile. "Because you said."

"Wh-What?" Ryohei mumbles, only becoming more confused.

"If I become a boxing club member," Kyouya clarifies. "I can do whatever I want. Kusakabe told me your promise."

"Kusakabe…?" Ryohei sounds out, but also remembers his promise to Hibari that the teen could both join the boxing club and be in the Disciplinary Committee – as in, do what he wants.

Not caring for Ryohei's name confusion, Kyouya continues. "I'm joining the boxing club."

"Really?" Ryohei's expression brightens into a grin and all worry over naming is pushed away.

"After this, I'll quit," Kyouya states abruptly.

Ryohei's face pinches but Kyouya cuts over his protest.

"And then, you'll never again ask Hibari Kyouya to enter the boxing club," Kyouya finishes, watching as Ryohei's face falls. "Don't tell me you're taking it back? After all, that's what you said. That I can do whatever I want."

Ryohei takes in a deep breath and straightens, staring up at Kyouya in the ring. "I understand."

Kyouya nods and pushes off the ropes, turning to face his first opponent. The large teen opposite can't help but shrink back from the Prefect.

"Come," Kyouya coaxes softly. "Shall we begin?"

The moment he lifts his fists into position, blood lust explodes from his small frame, sending a shockwave over the crowd before it narrows in on the now shaking boxer.

[Sighting Prey: level 39]

.

* * *

A/N:

Okay, no more Hidden Bullet stuff. The next chapter is all my own work, but with characters of Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

I've decided that pairings will only be hinted at and used for comedy – I can't see Kyouya being with anyone until he's much older, sorry. I might do a TYL chapter with a suggested pairing if you guys really want.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

Kyouya considers his actions of last week and figures that maybe he should have simply bitten them all to death. He did with the crowing gang of herbivores by the warehouse (very decisively this time), however he let the others go. That seems to be a mistake.

The loud herbivore is now following him everywhere, the pompadour has taken to shooting him side glances and looking away quickly when Kyouya meets his eyes, and finally, the irritating screen won't stop appearing at the moment Kyouya least expects.

[Mate: Sasagawa Ryohei – level 3]

A heavy sigh escapes Kyouya and the teen places his arms on the table so he can pillow his head on them. It takes a moment but he finally gathers enough will power to not immediately hunt down a group of noisy herbivores.

He lifts his head, finds that the screen is still there, hovering dutifully just to the left of his vision, and concedes defeat. He is tired and hungry, and just wants a nap, so he might as well get this over with so he can relax all day.

Kyouya calls up the main menu screen and blinks. There is a new category now.

[Continue

Avatar

Map

Relationships

Options]

He taps on the new Relationships category and braces himself for more stupidity.

[Mates 

Small Animals

Disciplinary Committee members]

Okay, not too bad, Kyouya thinks and selects the first category.

[Once your bond with these potential mates levels up past a certain point, you can take liberties with their person.

Kusakabe Tetsuya

Sasagawa Ryohei]

The screen fades and Kyouya still doesn't move.

[Sighting Prey: level 43

Sighting Prey: level 44

Sighting Prey: level 45]

* * *

Ryohei pauses in his bench pressing and turns his head at the creak of hinges. He blinks at the figure who slips through the gym's door, and hitches the bar onto the hold. He sits up then, ducking slightly as he does to not hit his head on the weight, and grins at the approaching figure. "Hey! Have you come to spar with me?"

Kyouya says nothing, his stride smoothly transitioning into a charge.

Ryohei makes a startled sound in the back of his throat and rolls off the bench to dodge the first hit. He doesn't dodge the second.

* * *

Kyouya slips back out of the gym and gestures for the waiting pompadours to enter and carry the herbivore to the school infirmary.

The herbivores move quickly, especially after seeing what Kyouya did to the Vice-Chairman, but still pause briefly to nod at him.

As Kyouya makes his way out of school, passing stragglers waiting for the bus or their parents to pick them up, he decides to go on a normal Patrol today. He rolls his shoulders, feeling a dull ache where the herbivore managed to get a punch in, and very determinedly ignores the screen.

[Mate: Sasagawa Ryohei – level 4]

Why was being beaten not enough of a deterrent?

* * *

The thought of the Relationship category doesn't leave him, and he finds his legs carrying him towards the preschool to check on his little legion.

He pauses briefly outside the gate and scans the jumbled mess of kids running around. A few of his kids snap to attention like they can feel his gaze on them and they immediately congregate.

Kyouya holds in the smirk and walks down the perimeter of the gate to the more closed off side where the teachers wouldn't see. It's always annoying when they start panicking.

He vaults over the high gate and moves to a long patch of grass so there would be extra cushioning.

"Kyouya-sama!" cries a little high pitched voice.

He turns to face the caller and spots around a dozen of his kids waddle towards him. The girl in front, the one that also called out his name, abruptly loses the wide grin she had and narrows her eyes. Kyouya commends her try at killing intent.

"Charge!" she shrieks and the tiny herbivores immediately start pumping their little legs and arms.

Kyouya smirks and plants his feet, planning to meet them head on. After all, they were only learning the basics right now. The harder stuff can come later.

The group scatters a bit and then splits so one group circles behind him. Of the group that charges directly at him, the two strongest slam into his legs with all the force a pre-kindergarten child can muster.

"Now," one of the boys hisses and the two pull, their wrapped arms catching the back of Kyouya's knees and making them bend automatically.

Kyouya briefly wonders when they learnt pressure points, and a bubbling feeling of pride spreads out from his chest.

He catches himself at the last second before he falls, snatching them up by their uniforms and tucking them under his arms, but more take their place.

Kyouya tenses and twists so his back is more towards the little herbivore about to leap off a pyramid of her friends. The little child lands easier at the new angle and wraps her arms around Kyouya's neck from behind, giggling.

Kyouya fakes a stagger from the combined assault and the little ones see weakness, grabbing onto his limbs and tugging.

Kyouya drops the two in his arms gently to the ground, and goes down slowly enough that the kids know to move. They scatter for a brief second as Kyouya sprawls in the grass and swarm back with renewed vigour.

They latch onto his limbs, tumbling over him in their haste. Despite the clumsiness inevitable in children, they sort themselves out and the very first girl scrambles onto his chest, standing tall with her hands planted on her hips.

She clears her throat awkwardly, clearly having learnt the move on TV. "We have-"

"There's a new carnivore," another girl whispers.

The one standing on him nods and takes the cue. "There's a new carnivore now, Hibari-sama," she cackles, followed by her army. The evil laughter soon crumbles into giggles.

Kyouya lets them have their moment, and then shows them how blood lust is supposed to work.

"Is there?"

The children's laughter stops abruptly and they start shrieking as Kyouya surges up from the ground, snatching them up as he moves, and corrals them into a pile that he then flops down on.

He grins inwardly at their half giggled out protests, making sure to keep himself resting lightly on them, and selects an example.

He snatches up the leader and the girl gasps as he separates her from the pack. The other quiet down and watch in fascination.

Good, Kyouya thinks. They should pay attention, because they've successfully moved on from hunting. Now Kyouya will teach them to skin their prey.

He props himself up his side with an elbow, still stretched across a pile of little herbivores, and dangles the leader in front of him carelessly by the back of her uniform.

"Where is this... carnivore, then?" he queries in a low voice.

She stares at him, frozen with wide eyes.

"Tell me, little one," he coaxes with a soft voice, moving her closer to him until all she could see was him, blotting out the sun. He smiles with too sharp teeth. "I'm hungry, and fake carnivores taste delicious."

"I want to marry you when I'm older," she breathes out.

Kyouya blinks. What were her parents teaching her?

"Kids!" a teacher calls out faintly.

Kyouya can just see the man from where he's lying down, the teacher wandering around the playground in search for his class among the other children streaming into the building.

Play time was over then.

Kyouya drops the girl and stands. He watches as they all clamber to their feet, accepts their hugs around his legs, and waves lightly as they troop around the corner to their teacher.

It's good they're learning fast, because all too soon Kyouya will have to leave Namimori.

He won't stay content within such a small town, no matter how much he loves this place. At least this way, he knows his town is protected from undisciplined herbivores.

Then when these little animals grow, they'll follow him, and Kyouya will have an army of loyal soldiers to play with.

* * *

.

A/N:

I would be very grateful if I could get some Japanese names from you guys for his little legion.

They don't show up much but I might do some fluff chapters and add it to 'The Many Facets Of Kyouya', if it won't fit here.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

The herbivore snarls and raises his fists, decked out in steel knuckles. The park is silent around him – proclaiming that help was too far away.

Kyouya stands in a small pile of herbivores, and watches for the moment the last one breaks. He taps out a fluttering heartbeat on his tonfa to match the prey in front of him, and breathes in the fear that permeates the air.

It's the scent of blood mixed with something like the air just before a storm rolls in. There's an expectation, and Kyouya is more than willing to provide, but he's always liked jump scares.

The herbivore is trembling even though he tries so hard to stop. His fists waver and spasm as he focuses on the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

"What have I done?" the herbivore asks quietly, voice admirably strong and even.

Kyouya's fingers pause their beats and come to rest on his tonfa as the herbivore straightens in courage and his fear turns to determination. Kyouya watches as the teen's stance solidifies, and he wonders if he'll get a challenge.

"What rule did I break to gain your attention?" the herbivore questions again.

Kyouya deigns to answer this time, to reward the herbivores bravery. "You did not break a rule."

"Then what did I do?" the teen grits out in anger.

Kyouya smirks, amused at the wrath the herbivore is showing.

"Are you not going to tell me?" hisses the herbivore. Frustration mixes with the anger and fear to make the herbivore more likely to lash out than run.

"Your fear," Kyouya answers.

The herbivore blinks.

"It called me to you," Kyouya elaborates. "The smell of blood, and the electricity of lighting turning into fire when it strikes. It's like you were waiting for me, just me, and I liked that."

"You…" the teen breathes out, frozen. "You're insane."

"I'm hungry," Kyouya corrects. He takes a step forward and raises his tonfa. "You'll let me bite you to death, won't you?"

* * *

Kyouya presses his tonfa to his back and lets go, the weapons vanishing from existence. The herbivore at his feet groans and curls tighter into a ball. The teen was bloody and bruised but Kyouya pulled back when he remembered that the leader of his little legion had a brother.

"Seven exactly," Kyouya orders.

The herbivore opens his eyes hesitantly and peers up at Kyouya. "What do you mean?"

"A pompadour will meet you at the front gate," Kyouya calls over his shoulder as he turns to walk away. "Oh, and loose the knuckles, they're not your strength."

Ren blinks at the Chairman's back and briefly contemplates moving to America, but his sister's excited expression when she spoke about 'Kyouya-sama' stopped that fantasy. He presses his face harder against the grass of the park and lets out a world-weary sigh.

Ren is so fucked.

* * *

Kyouya continues on his normal patrol meandering, feeling quite pleased at the new addition to his ranks. That fear really is heady.

Kyouya lets his eyes slip shut as he walks, remembering the phantom feeling of rain on his skin when he first noticed the fear. He eyes snap open and he reminds himself to indulge in the herbivore with moderation, because that feeling of fear might dissipate if the teen is exposed to Kyouya too often.

Kyouya can still remember the fear of Kusakabe Tetsuya. The smell was like a thick, choking smoke but the taste was of the ocean – of drowning. If that contrast wasn't odd enough, the feeling was akin to being watched.

Usually Kyouya can get an idea of how the herbivore feels in front of him – what they compare him to. Kusakabe Tetsuya apparently compares him to the moment before death. It would be flattering if the pompadour was still scared of him.

Kyouya can't help the small frown of annoyance.

"Hey!" an energetic voice roars as footsteps pound against the concrete of the footpath.

Kyouya ignores the call and keeps walking. Or at least he tries to, but when the herbivore has the audacity to try and rest an arm on his shoulders, he spins on his heel and plants the other foot in the annoying pest's stomach.

A lung full is forced out of Ryohei and he doubles over at the reprimand. "Still so extreme," he coughs out but recovers quickly.

Kyouya rolls his eyes and starts walking again, holding in a sigh when the noisy herbivore keeps pace at his side.

"So…" Ryohei begins. "What is your name?" He ducks a tonfa and jumps over a kicks to the calf but runs head first into a bus stop sign because he wasn't looking.

Kyouya bites down on a smile as the herbivore groans and rubs his forehead.

"Rude," Ryohei mumbles. He glances up but fins that Kyouya has already moved a block away. "Such extreme speed!" he cries and dashes to catch up.

Kyouya swerves out of the way of the teen who skids to a stop a second later when he realises Kyouya isn't going to race him.

Ryohei falls silent and simply walks with the Chairman, struggling to think up how to actually talk with the half acquaintance without mentioning boxing.

Kyouya sees the herbivore open his mouth and cuts in first. "Be silent."

Ryohei closes his mouth, and when he sees the black haired teen glance at him, the boxing enthusiast comes to the conclusion that this was a test. He pumps a fist in the air and mentally declares that he will win the respect of the teen beside him.

Kyouya rolls his eyes at the screen.

[Mate: Sasagawa Ryohei – level 5]

* * *

Ryohei is shaking with badly contained energy by the time the teen leading him slows to a stop. He hears loud, braying laughter and locks onto a group of stereotypical delinquents loitering by an alleyway.

"Stay," Kyouya orders and tonfa appear in his hands.

Ryohei gapes in awe at how fast the teen takes down the others, the bodies dropping one by one in a blur of silver metal, the black jacket, and the blood red of the Disciplinary Committee armband.

Kyouya pauses only long enough to read through the quest screen.

[Quest: Delinquents and Herbivores and Pests, oh my!

Complete

Reward: unlock 'Hunt'

Hunt will allow you to share the Cheat ability and gain the advantage over opponents. To invite someone to the Hunt, say 'Activate Hunt', and then the person's name]

Kyouya flickers a glance to the herbivore bouncing on his heels and wonders if the new unlocked ability was too much of a coincidence. He gestures the loud annoyance over and points at the scattered money and items.

"What do you see?"

Ryohei blinks at the odd question, but answers. "Four unconscious teenagers," he replies succinctly.

Kyouya hums. So the illusion was only on Kyouya then. He briefly wonders what actually happened at the Patrol with the spider girl, and plans for that to be the next test.

A thought occurs to him then and he tenses at the idea that if he did use the Hunt ability and offers it to the herbivore, the ones who poisoned Kyouya would come out and he could finally bite them to death.

"Activate Hunt, the annoying herbivore," Kyouya tries in lieu of actually remembering the herbivore's name.

Ryohei gapes at the lightly blue translucent rectangle that suddenly comes into existence just to the left of his vision.

[Hibari Kyouya has invited you to a Hunt. Do you accept?

Yes/No] 

Ryohei's head snaps over to the one called Hibari Kyouya. "So you're called Hibari too?"

Kyouya rolls his eyes and grabs the loud one's hair, smashing his head forward through the yes option, and into the alley's brick wall.

Ryohei springs back up with a now bloodied forehead. "That wasn't nice at all, Hibari!" he protests but gets side-tracked at the items scattered over the ground. "Hey, where did the other guys go?"

Kyouya, tonfa lifted in preparation, frowns when no one appeared to poison the herbivore. He scans the confused teenager but can't see any needles or holes where long distance projectiles could have hit him. Kyouya quickly glances to the ground as well but nothing incriminating is there.

[Sighting Prey: level 46]

It must be the mist herbivores the book was talking about. Kyouya growls low in his throat and makes a note to find more information on it. The one he 'learned' only detailed the effects and uses of 'mist' but not the mechanisms behind it.

Kyouya huffs and automatically dismisses the items screen that pops up. He focuses back on the herbivore to find him tense and staring at the Chairman, fists at his hips and ready to block.

Kyouya simply gestures for the herbivore to follow him and heads for the closest Patrol.

* * *

Kyouya has figured out that the Patrols have a very organised way of classification.

The power levels went up by the tens, so if he entered Patrol 17, its average monster strength would match his. In Patrol 27 it would double, and 37 would be triple.

The units simply detailed how large the Patrol would be. 1 meant one corridor with an average of five rooms. 2 meant two corridors and so on.

So when Kyouya took Ryohei to Patrol 7, the one he himself started at, the power level was half the combined average of whoever entered and there were seven corridors with an average of five rooms.

Unfortunately, there was a randomised factor regarding the Patrols, and that was the minimum amount of people entering.

When the two teens reached the front path of Patrol 7, the mail box proclaims the numbers 7(3). Kyouya huffs but this was the closest and he can't be bothered tracking down another. He only needs one other herbivore to make a group of three and he can test out his theory.

He looks around the street and spots a lone preteen walking towards him, with a baseball bat over one shoulder and a cheery bounce to his step.

Kyouya smiles.

* * *

.

A/N: I have no idea what the first half is about – I just wanted to add the thing about fear. I like to think that's how he recruits people.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

Takeshi is innocently walking down the street, a bounce in his step and his trusty baseball bat on one shoulder, feeling content after a practice game.

Then Hibari Kyouya steps in front of him.

"Eh?" is all Takeshi gets out before his forearm is grabbed and he's dragged down the front path to a normal looking house.

"What is that?" Kyouya demands, pulling to a halt halfway down the path and pointing at the bony hand clawing up from the grass and dirt.

Takeshi follows the finger and blinks at grass.

Kyouya can see the answer in the herbivore's face so he raises his arm to point at where the loud one is being dragged across the yard by skeletons. The herbivore is desperately clawing at the dirt and shouting about how everything is _so not extreme_ as he's pulled further towards an open grave.

"Um…" Takeshi hesitates. "Kyoko's brother is doing the worm. Badly."

Kyouya hums and drops his arm. He turns to walk to the house but glances back at the loud one. It wouldn't do loose him only to find out that the Patrol needs three live players and not three bodies.

"That's not very extreme of you," Kyouya calls out. "Being taken down so easily."

A war cry follows Kyouya as he tows the middle schooler behind him up the front steps.

Takeshi has to wonder what his classmate's brother is doing around a scary guy like Kyouya. From what he's heard, the teen has a following of terrible delinquents who'll beat up a student, or a teacher, or anyone really, just for fun. Perhaps it would be a better idea to just run now. His dad would be angry if Takeshi got conscripted.

…but Takeshi is just so curious.

"Is this your house, Hibari?" Takeshi wonders.

"No," Kyouya replies and kicks the door in, splintering the wood with a cracking sound and making the door fly back and slam into the stairs directly ahead.

Takeshi forces a laugh but it wobbles nervously as he's pulled inside. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. If it was your house, why would kick the door in instead of just using your key?" He flinches when the door slams shut and wrenches his arm away from Kyouya to whip around and stare at the suddenly there, new door in horror.

Kyouya looks at the herbivore sideways. This one has an incredibly aggressive fear, like he's ready to strike at any moment. It's a strange sensation, but Kyouya has a different experiment in mind so he dismisses it.

"What do you see?" Kyouya asks again, gesturing around the house.

"Did that door just close?" Takeshi asks, voice higher than normal in fear. "Where did it come from?" He glances over his shoulder but can't see the door Kyouya just kicked in. "Where did the other one go?"

Kyouya sighs. He hates when herbivore don't co-operate. "It's… a game."

"A… game," Takeshi laughs. "Oh, okay…"

He doesn't look convinced so Kyouya speaks up again. "It's called Monsters, and what we have to do is scope out this Patrol and get rid of any creatures we see."

Takeshi nods, more relaxed now that things make sense. "Wow, Hibari. You have an insane special effects crew."

"Yes, sure," Kyouya mutters. "Now, what do you see?"

Takeshi turns in a slow circle and frowns in confusion. "There are closed doors on the sides and there isn't any furniture, I guess? I'm not sure what I'm looking for."

A sickle creature emerges from an upstairs room, moving slowly and woodenly.

Kyouya hums and watches as Takeshi's eyes skip right over the creature. "Walk up the stairs."

Takeshi blinks but does as Kyouya commands. After all, the boy hasn't played Monsters before, so Kyouya would know the rules better than him. He takes the steps two at a time with his long legs and pauses at the top, turning to Kyouya and waiting for another order.

Kyouya pays close attention to how the Sickle ignores the herbivore, going as far as to step back to not touch the middle schooler.

So from the testing, others aren't effected at all and the poison's effect is isolated to only adjusting a situation, flowing into reality seamlessly instead of creating a circumstance.

"Come back down," Kyouya dictates and the herbivore hops sideways onto the railing and slides down with a grin, clearly more at ease with the idea of a game.

"So where are the beasts we have to slay?" Takeshi laughs, swinging his bat around. "Can I be a knight?"

Kyouya knows that the little spider girl doesn't show up unless the other areas are cleared first, but he's also rather curious as to what the two herbivore can manage, so he decides against simply slaughtering the entire patrol to find out if the girl is a real human.

The door is locked but another kick takes care of that and the loud one bounces inside, covered in dirt and scrapes.

"This is definitely a work out," Ryohei laughs, pumping a fist in the air.

"Wow Sasagawa," Takeshi whistles low at the damage on the other teen. "You take dancing seriously, don't you?'

"What?" Ryohei blinks. "No, I was in an extreme boxing match with skeletons."

"Activate Hunt, the other herbivore," Kyouya chimes in.

Takeshi blinks at the screen.

* * *

"Where do the corridors come from? Wait, does that mean - it's bigger on the inside!"

Kyouya rolls his eyes at the cackling coming from the corridor. He leans back against railing from his seat on the stairs and scrolls through his inventory to get rid of the items he doesn't need. He has far too many human bones. "The blobs are made of a weak acid," he calls out.

A squelch echoes and cursing follows.

* * *

"That is not extreme-" Ryohei blurts out and dives to the side.

"The rodents are shrapnel bombs," Kyouya informs them helpfully, voice travelling into the corridor the two were in.

"You couldn't have said that earlier?" Takeshi complains, wincing at the cuts he gained.

"This way, you learn faster," Kyouya points out ruthlessly.

* * *

"Oh, and the skinny ones move really fast if you're close."

Ryohei slams into the wall and slides down. Takeshi wheezes for air, doubled over and clutching his stomach.

* * *

Kyouya shifts a little on the step, lying down easily on the wide staircase. He opens an eye when the words reach him.

"Hey there, little girl," Takeshi coos. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry," Ryohei shouts cheerfully. "We got rid of the scary creatures."

Screams of horror quickly follow.

* * *

"Let's not do that again," Takeshi suggests, gasping for breath as he's splayed out on the wooden floor of the bottom level.

"I wouldn't mind going another round," Ryohei pants, slumped at the base of a wall near the door. "Maybe later, though."

A snap echoes through the house and both turn to see Kyouya holding what looks to be a femur bone from something too close to human. The Chairman bites down on the broken end of one half and comes away with marrow.

The two watch the teen eat and shiver when another crack sounds.

Kyouya tucks away the empty bones to throw later and turns to focus on the herbivores. "You two did rather well," he says, knowing the effect praise has on the psyche.

"Of course!" Takeshi laughs, pushing himself into a sitting position. "We were pretty awesome, huh Sasagawa?"

Ryohei grins brightly. "Yes! Real fighters take extreme training!"

And Kyouya secures himself enthusiastic lab rats.

* * *

The next thing Kyouya tests is limits. He ushers the tired but stupidly willing herbivores out of the Patrol and into the street, walking around until he finds an isolated spot. He steps into the alleyway and turns to face his test subjects.

"Break the wall," Kyouya orders, nodding to the clothing store.

He had tried this out before, by himself, and the results are annoying. The fact is, Kyouya can't break through walls anymore - his tonfa simply don't connect. Any attack he throws at them stops millimetres from the actual structure and slips right off.

Ryohei, used to breaking things, immediately charges and throws a punch. His fist hits the intangible line of _no_ and slips to the side, throwing the teen to the floor from the momentum.

Takeshi blinks and then grins. "Hey, that looks like fun!" He hefts his bat and reels back.

Kyouya notes the narrowed eyes and the sharp grin as the baseball player swings his bat so fast it's a blur of silver. Takeshi also hits the line and his bat slips to the side as well. A shocked sound escapes him and he stumbles to keep his balance.

Kyouya frowns. So he really can't break walls any more. What a pity.

A startled laugh comes from Takeshi as the middle schooler spots Ryohei further down the wall. The teen is currently sprinting at the wall, but the line is holding him back and making him look like he's running on the spot.

Ryohei smiles widely as he changes angle and starts slowly sliding against the clothing shop towards the other two.

Takeshi startles when Ryohei suddenly slams forward, head first into the wall. He bounces off, hitting the ground hard and groaning up at the sky with a bloody forehead.

A chuckle comes from Kyouya and Takeshi sees the blue screen in front of the Chairman.

[Hunt participants:

Hibari Kyouya

You have removed Sasagawa Ryohei from the Hunt

Yamamoto Takeshi]

* * *

A/N:

To **Moonlily13** : There isn't a time limit, and because Kyouya is technically the admin of the group he can add or remove people whenever he wants. Most of the time he just lets them stay so they get stronger and he can get more of a challenge.

In fact, Ryohei eventually gets so used to the gaming system, he'll still run full tilt at walls when he's not in a Hunt. To cover up the mistake, he'll just scream "Real men don't turn!".

Kyouya will still occasionally throw Ryohei out of a hunt, just before he collides. He does this when the others get powers as well - especially when Tsuna gets 'ally zone' which stops all attacks from landing. He'll simply throw Tsuna out and continue biting herbivores to death.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

It's a week later since Kyouya first lead the herbivores to the Patrol, and every day since then, they've sauntered up to his front door and called for him to go and 'play'. They've visited other Patrols, but nothing over twenty-four, and the two have quickly learnt to move fast to get a hit in before Kyouya starts on the creatures.

Unfortunately, the two still get twitchy around the boss creatures – usually humans that shift into nightmares. However, the baseball herbivore bashed a little boy's skull in yesterday, and only freaked out a little, so Kyouya thinks he'll get them apathetic quickly enough.

Today, Kyouya has something else in mind. He can't help but wonder if the game has respawn.

"Kyouya!" Ryohei bellows from the front door. "Come out and play with us!"

"Come on, Kyo-chan!" Takeshi laughs. "I haven't seen your cute scowl today!"

Kyouya will not feel the slightest bit of guilt, he can already tell.

* * *

Takeshi smiles sheepishly at Kyouya's frighteningly blank expression and makes sure to hold his bat tightly in preparation for the flurry of tonfa. "You wouldn't hit a sick person, would you?" Takeshi tries, sniffling to prove his point.

The teen rolls his eyes but just beckons them both in.

Ryohei shares a confused look with the middle schooler but they both step cautiously into the large house. The outer rim is a long wooden hallway with sliding doors to block out the actual house and a detailed wooden rail on the other side. This the path Kyouya leads them down.

They peek into open doors and mentally note down the traditional style of rooms with tatami mats and futons folded into closets. They both admit that it's entirely expected of Kyouya.

A few Disciplinary Committee members are wandering around as well, either just lounging or decked out in gym clothes with an assortment of weapons in their hands. They pause to nod at Kyouya when he passes and disappear further into the house.

They walk until they reach the back of the house, to the large open garden with a pool at one end. The only other person in sight is the Vice-Chairman, Tetsuya, who is sitting on the steps leading down to the grass with a cup of tea in his hand. A small table is set out as well with a tea pot and another cup for the owner of the house.

Kyouya stops at the edge of the stairs and gestures them down in front of him politely.

"Your house is very pretty," Takeshi compliments, easily hoping down the steps. He feels the brush of Kyouya's fingers against his jaw, skating around to cup his cheek lightly. "Kyouy-"

A sharp twist and Takeshi pitches forward past the rest of the steps, rolling to a stop in the grass. He stares blankly at the clear blue sky with a faint, broken smile on his lips.

Tetsuya raises his cup in the dead silence and takes a sip. He's careful to not show his shock at the attack. He's able to place the cup back on the small table beside him before the scene clicks for the boxing enthusiast.

Ryohei positively explodes in anger, charging forward and throwing Kyouya away from the body, taking up a stance in front of Takeshi. " _What the hell was that_?" Ryohei roars, waving his hands in sharp slashes through the air. "You just – just killed him, what is _wrong with you_?!"

Kyouya hums, too busy watching the corpse. A bright red cartoon heart rises from the middle schooler, with a black number three in it that flickers into a two. The heart once more descends into the body and the eyes slide shut as the face blanks.

"Look at me, Hibari Kyouya," Ryohei snarls. "Look at me, you monster, and tell me why you just murdered your friend in cold blood."

"The blood was still warm when I got to him," Kyouya disagrees calmly.

Ryohei tenses. Kyouya dodges the first charge, and contemplates just explaining that the other herbivore is alive. Ryohei's missed punch slams in to the stair railing and shatters every piece of wood in a five meter radius, sending splinters in every direction. He quickly whirls around and rushes the Chairman again.

Kyouya frowns in annoyance at the destruction, and with a quick flick of his wrist, a white bone piece lodges into Ryohei's forehead. The boxer pitches forward and skids face first along the ground from the momentum.

"Release," Kyouya murmurs and the sickle bone snaps out into its needle sphere form.

Ryohei's body gives a little jerk as the weapon cracks easily through the teen's skull and sprays blood and brain in a graceful arc of droplets and the odd chunk.

Tetsuya take another sip of his tea, decidedly shakier this time, and places it back on the table. He clenches his fists and makes sure not to flinch when Kyouya turns to him. Tetsuya takes a deep, calming breath. He doesn't see the heart rise out of the boxer, nor does he see screen in front of Kyouya as the Chairman passes by.

"Send them to their families," Kyouya orders and slips into the house. "I'll be in the kitchen – I'm hungry."

[Title gained: Psychopath]

* * *

.

A/N:

I'm going to really like just dropping these kinds of chapters at random moments, just to remind you guys that he's really not a nice guy – in fact he barely makes the anti-hero category. This is a part of the plot, though, not just for shits and giggles.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Kyouya, The Gamer (we're all fu*ked now)

Summary: Kyouya finds a cheat code and the future abruptly takes two steps to the left and trips over. Gamer AU.

.

* * *

Kyouya is packed that afternoon and he's on a plane to China not long after.

A few pompadours see him off at the terminal, dramatically waving handkerchiefs they quickly bought for this sole purpose, as he boards the private plane his family owns.

The Disciplinary Committee members hold back tears at the painful separation and all mentally declare that they will protect Namimori in the Chairman's absence.

Kyouya waves off the steward and settles on the comfortable chair that looks more like a throne than an aeroplane seat.

The take-off is smooth and there are no complaints he has for the pilots, but he would be more satisfied if his pompadour was in the cockpit.

Kyouya stretches his arms above his head and sighs in contentment at the pull of muscles. A leg gets thrown over the other and the teen relaxes back into the chair. Just before he drifts to sleep, he wonders if his father will be well enough to walk around, or if the illness has him weaker than normal.

* * *

Kyouya doesn't acknowledge the bows he receives on the walk into the compound, not even the greetings from his distant relatives.

The chauffer who met Kyouya at the airport was a careless herbivore who used his words to pollute the air in hopes that something will catch in his owner's throat. The man was nothing special, and he won't ever be, but he's desperate for acknowledgment nonetheless.

So the driver runs his mouth.

"-ven't seen your mother in days. In fact, the last time she was out in public was your father's funeral-"

It was less a damn bursting open and more a cat flap being lifted with a foot, but the temperature in the car dropped and the driver hunched his shoulders on instinct to protect his neck.

The man desperately wanted to turn around and not leave his back open, but years of being a chauffeur told him that was a stupid idea, and years of working for the Hibari told him it was a futile one.

Nothing he could do would stop a Hibari, anyway.

So Kyouya sits in a silent car for the rest of the ride and within seconds of the car stopping, he's crossed the compound and is swerving around the twists of the family base until he comes to a stop in front of his mother's room.

Well, maybe not a stop considering he slams the heel of his palm into the door and the hits throws the piece of wood across the room and into the wall before it finally drops, cracked in half and splintered.

There is no one in the room.

More than that, there is nothing but the bare necessities to even indicate it was fit for occupation.

"Kyouya," Fon greets politely from the end of the hall, having just turned the corner. "You've been back for a minute and you're already destroying things. To think I missed you," he teases gently.

"Why did no one inform me that my father is dead?" Kyouya demands in a calm voice.

Fon reaches the teen and stands beside him, staring into the cleared room of his mother. "The decline was a sharp one," Fon reveals solemnly. "I myself barely made it in time for the funeral. He passed six days ago, but your mum was adamant that you not be told until she could do it herself, as mother to son."

Kyouya thinks on how he was too late.

How if he had thought of it earlier.

How if he had just tested earlier.

And he hates.

* * *

.

A/N:

I wasn't going to include his parents at all (or at least give him perfectly normal ones, because I hate it when blood thirsty characters have to be explained away by a bad childhood) but –ugh- I couldn't help myself. I needed an excuse to visit Fon and for Kyouya to be mad enough that he'll… spoilers.

Also, yes, I've just completely moved on from killing Takeshi and Ryohei.


	12. Chapter 12

The chef glances up from packing the dishwasher and frowns when a member of the staff steps into the kitchen and sets down a full tray. The food had gone cold long ago but not a bite has been taken from it. Going two days without food can't be healthy.

"He's not eating still?" she asks, watching as the staff member empties the tray.

A head shake is the response. "Doesn't even open his door," he murmurs.

They share a concerned look. The teen in question has visited the compound a total of three times, all combined not lasting longer than a fortnight, but the staff adored him nonetheless.

The door swings open and the two look over. All the kitchen staff are on break considering lunch has been completely cleared up with only a few more dishes to take care of, so no one should be in the large kitchen except for them.

A woman steps through and the two hide grimaces. She clearly isn't a regular in the compound seeing as they don't recognise her, which means she only arrived for the funeral on behalf of the widow. A few people like her could be seen wandering around, snooping into rooms and making loud comments about the Hibari estate.

This one seemed particularly intent on overstaying her welcome.

"Are you two talking about little Kyo?" she asks with a disturbingly vacant look to her eyes.

Perhaps they're biased, but the people who live in the compound are all sharp eyed and very aware of their surroundings at all times. To see someone waltzing about without purpose is a shock.

The chef darts a glance to her friend and he shrugs, before opening a finished washer and beginning to pack away the clean items.

"Yes," she says and turns away to start her own dish washer.

The woman hums. "The poor dear, losing his father like that." She cocks her head like a curious puppy. "Though I do have to wonder if their relationship isn't the best."

The staff are too well trained to tense, but one of them fingers a particularly sharp knife as he tucks the utensils away.

"I mean," the woman continues in a half hushed tone like she was conspiring with them. "He didn't even show up to his father's funeral. That just screams family trouble."

The chef reaches over and takes the knife away from her friend who was stroking the blade like a lover. "We're trying to work," she says. "Please leave."

The woman giggles. "Of course, of course. Just let me take the boy his food next time," she insists. "It seems he just needs a friend to talk with." She leaves before the two can say anything.

He gives her a look.

"No," the chef berates but can't stop a smile. "We can't let her."

He raises an eyebrow.

She chuckles and concedes.

After all, they might like the boy but they're not oblivious. Hopefully the demon will tear the woman to pieces.

* * *

She hums a little tune as she sweeps gracefully through the twists of the Hibari mansion, a tray of steaming food balanced in her hands. She does a small spin as she rounds the last corner and comes to halt in front of the boy's door.

"Oh Kyo~" she sings. "Open up, sweetheart. It's not healthy to stay inside so long." She pauses, trying to hear the shuffle of footsteps or a voice but frowns when there's no indication of anyone inside.

Perhaps she could just… slip inside and set the tray down. The woman smirks and balances the food one hand as the other slides out a small knife. A little cut and the door lock disengages. The knife disappears and she giggles internally at how the specially built in safety feature is also the weakness.

She nudges open the door and pauses.

The room is bare with just a bed and a table. A small door leads to a bathroom. There are no notable signs that anyone is residing in the room in the first place, except for the bundle of blankets on the bed.

She drifts over and sets the tray down on the desk before stepping closer to the bed. "Kyo?" she calls out softly. "Time to wake up now."

The blanket shifts and the boy sits up against the headboard. "That is not my name," he says, voice blank. "You should not be in this compound, nor this room."

She skips right past the accusation and sits at the bedside. "Your dad was a strong man, Kyo," she says. "But sometimes even strong people can be taken down by a harsh disease. That's just nature."

"Is that what you think happened?" Kyouya asks, watching her shift uncomfortably under his gaze. "That my father was struck down a simple disease?"

The woman hesitates.

"My father loved my mother, even when she started poisoning him," Kyouya hums lightly and the atmosphere shifts as it gathers into a focal point. "The truth is that he was weak and she was even weaker."

Blood lust washes over her and pours into the woman's skin. She stutters out a sound akin to horror and reels back from the bed, feeling pin pricks turn to needles turn to knives that twist as they push in.

"Go ahead," Kyouya dares with a light tone as if he's simply speaking to a friend. "I know your type. Ask me where my mother is, Triad scum, and I'll give you something to gossip about."

The woman stumbles on her way to the door, gasping for breath as she feels her body seize like she's drowning.

"No? Can't make yourself speak?" Kyouya taunts, a dark humour coating his voice.

Her back hits the wall and she desperately claws for the door handle, mindless in her panic.

"Or perhaps you already know she's pawing at the Triad's leader," Kyouya says dismissively. "She'll be dead by next week, I guarantee you that." His eyes narrow and real anger seeps into his voice for the first time. "If not by your master, then I'll hunt her down myself," he promises.

The woman's fingers finally catch on the door handle and she's throwing herself out into the hallway, stumbling into a sprint.

Kyouya relaxes back into the bed, knowing that the woman will pass along the message. This way, he'll get a challenge when he goes to collect.


	13. Chapter 13

Fon stands outside the room, eyes closed as he listens to the quiet breathing inside.

It's been four days since a woman was seen sprinting from the room, almost delirious from her run in with Kyouya.

It's been six days since the teen last ate anything.

Fon frowns as he contemplates how badly the lack of food would effect a growing teenager. He doesn't have a plan on how to get Kyouya out, but he would try. This isn't healthy.

He takes a step forward and pushes at the unlocked door. It opens without a sound and Fon quickly steps in to close it behind him.

The room has been deconstructed.

The walls were methodically stripped of any plaster until the insulation and wooden beams are revealed. The resulting material is lining the base of the walls neatly, all in equal amounts.

The single bed has been taken apart, with nails left in an orderly row along the stack of wooden beams that made up the base. The metal parts are twisted into a balled up knot, some looking ripped up like clay instead of metal.

The quilt, sheets and pillow covering had all been shredded into strips and tucked into a corner with what used to be the mattress – now just a pile of fluff with hidden springs waiting inside. Even the ceiling lights are left as empty sockets with the actual bulbs and glass coverings placed dead centre of the table.

Only the floor was left untouched, along with the single table in the middle of the room where Kyouya sits. His profile is to the door as he gazes out of the third storey window to watch clouds pass by.

Fon breathes a silent sigh of relief when there are no injuries, self-inflicted or otherwise. Kyouya isn't one to be self-destructive but there is always a worry when someone shuts down.

At this point, Kyouya's anger is less a fire and more a white hot iron. It is controlled and calm but can burn just as easily.

Fon knows it isn't out of sadness for his father's death that the teen has locked himself away. It's more for the sake of others and their continued livelihood that Kyouya has closed himself off and turned his attention to inanimate objects.

The teenager needed time for thinking and reasserting some views to calm down, because before now Kyouya had faced little to no opposition where he truly cared. (The principal of his school easily surrendered, and the Namimori police answer to Kyouya and only Kyouya.)

It must have been a shock to the boy's system, because despite Kyouya's claim on his father, someone disregarded the clear branding and murdered the man.

It's a different kind of love, Fon supposes.

For a given value of 'love'.

"Kyouya, would you like some food?" Fon asks, nothing to be read in his voice.

Kyouya turns to face the Storm but he doesn't really see. "Leave," he says, voice rough from disuse. He seems to be staring just to the side of Fon, his eyes unfocused.

Fon hesitates.

"I'll be out soon," Kyouya states, finally shifting his gaze to look at the Arcobaleno for the first time.

Fon nods and leaves, shutting the door behind him with hope that Kyouya will actually emerge on his own.

Kyouya flicks his eyes back to the light blue map hovering in front of him. It's unfortunate that the closest Patrol needed two people, but the level is high enough for Kyouya's needs.

* * *

The walk is quiet.

Fon is too busy trying to profile Kyouya to determine his health, while Kyouya is more focused on planning out how to distract the Arcobaleno when they reach their destination.

The sun is trying to retreat behind the clouds but they're spread too thin to cover it – only casting brief shadows before flitting away. There is a threat of rain hidden behind the bright blue sky and the cool wind.

In Namimori, Kyouya would be on the middle school roof to watch the transition. Here in China, he only turns the corner and comes to a halt in front of what looks to be a three storey apartment building.

The mail box, only one despite the usual multitude that would normally cater to a whole building, reads 51(2).

Kyouya feels his fingers twitch for unyielding metal.

"Is there something you wanted to do here?" Fon asks after the teen stops walking and peers up at the building.

[Hibari Kyouya has invited you to a Hunt. Do you accept?

Yes/No] 

Fon blinks once and slants a glance at Kyouya. He receives a nod as confirmation.

The word yes is tapped and the earth shifts just enough that the before and after seem like childish 'spot the difference' puzzles.

Fon is standing on a quiet street, Kyouya is right beside him, and the building hasn't changed either. So why did Fon feels so strange?

"Go to the menu," Kyouya orders. "When you're done, come find me." The teen's stride is lazy and content as he strolls up to the unlocked front door.

Fon frowns in confusion, but follows the command. "Menu?" he tries for lack of anything to press, and wonders which Mist user is able to fool his senses.

A light blue screen pops up, akin to something Fon would see advertised in internet cafes or game stores.

He fiddles with the options first – turning the sound effects on briefly just in curiosity before off again. A constant sound track would be annoying, Fon thinks. He plays with the lighting and sets the standard language from Japanese to Chinese, before switching on the vision option and taking a peek in the reflection of his phone. His name, level, health and will power are now hovering dutifully above his head in a muted red colour.

He contemplates why he's humouring this thing but… well, Mafia weirdness still takes the cake. It's strange how Fon hasn't heard of this before but the Bovino have a time machine so who was Fon to question the logic behind Kyouya having an unknown power.

He toggles standard notifications off and taps back to the main menu to quickly brows the map before scanning the avatar tab and heading into skills.

He scrolls quickly through the unlocked boxes, mostly to do with his Storm Flames and some with unknown meanings to him but sounding like gamer jargon, and stops at the last unlocked skill.

[Arcobaleno Antidote]

Fon is too well trained for his hand to shake, but he can't make his body obey him past that. His hand is slow to reach out and even stops completely before he finally passes a finger through those terrifying words.

[Arcobaleno Antidote

This skill drains your Dying Will meter significantly, but allows the user to transition into their physically adult bodies until their Will runs out.]

In the quiet, isolated street, the man who had been suffocating in the body of a child for over a decade starts giggling.

Perhaps if someone was around with the right knowledge, they would compare Fon's laugh to Kyouya's – right before the teenager smeared the walls with red.

* * *

.

A/N:

It occurs to me that I've fallen back into the mindset of 'proof reading is for losers'. My sincerest apologies.


	14. Chapter 14

Fon gets himself under control and immediately tests the body's limits with a few stretches. It feels… like it's his. Like not even years as a child has affected his sense of perception.

A window in the apartment building shudders as a wolf like body slams against it. The body drops away but red smudges are left.

Kyouya appears, half hidden by the bloodied window, and blinks at Fon. The martial artist smiles serenely and waves his adult sized hand, attached to his adult sized arm. Kyouya rolls his eyes and walks away.

Perhaps Fon is having too much fun with this. He needs something to distract himself.

* * *

The single corridor is dimly lit and rain scatters lightning bolts of water across the windows, all of this a complete opposite to the true weather outside.

The Patrol level is fifty-one and yet Kyouya can take out the creatures with one solid blow.

While at first he felt cheated, it occurred to him that the average level has to be his power times five. So the weak ones, because they were dragging down the average, assured Kyouya that the last would be terrifying in its strength.

Having dispatched the other creatures swiftly, he approaches the last door, feeling his heart quicken in excitement. He can feel the strength of whatever was inside the room.

He stops just outside the open door and scans the inside. The window is boarded up and the light switch isn't working, all of this throwing the room into darkness. It's not a natural shadow; too dark and shifting far too much.

There's something playing with Kyouya.

He steps past the threshold and before he can do much more than register it, a silk whip shoots out and snatches his right leg from under him, dragging the teen into the middle of the room. He goes down hard, unable to react at the speed, and his head slams against the floor creating starbursts of white in his vision and disorientating him.

Another chord curls around his left wrist, just a light touch gliding over his skin. Then it tightens harshly and _pulls._

A stifled cry leaves him as he's haul into the air, shoulder and ankle clicking out of place as his body gives out under the strain. His tonfa drop with a muffled clatter into the carpet as he scrambles to summon a sickle bone and cut the rope around his wrist.

More snap out and wrap his free wrist and ankle, the chords going taut and making his body strain as it slowly rips his apart.

"Activate-" he gasps but yet another rope snaps out and snakes around his throat. His lips part in desperation but no air can get past the constriction.

His arm and ankle are radiating pain from the dislocation and his other limbs seem to be close to breaking point. He can feel more strings slither up his legs and constrict his hips and waist. The silk around his throat squeezes harder and his vision tunnels, black spots dancing across his sight.

It's been a total four seconds since he stepped into room, and something in his neck makes a low, wet crunch.

The next second is fire.

Red light fill the room, gushing into the pitch black and burning away the chords, along with the walls and everything else in the way with a frightening prejudice.

Kyouya barely registers falling and being caught by a blank faced Fon.

The Arcobaleno scans the teen, catching the lacerations and bruises before locking onto the dislocated limbs. Hopefully nothing is broken. Then he sees the boy's throat.

"Fuck," Fon snarls, unable to keep the expletive in. "Can you breathe?" he asks urgently but Kyouya's eyes are already slipping closed. Fon runs through a mental list of contacts, be he wouldn't be able to get the boy to a sun in time.

He places a hand to teen's throat. "I'm sorry, Kyouya, but I'm not a sun." Red flows across his hand and into the skin beneath it. "I'm a storm," Fon murmurs.

Kyouya jerks and air rushes into his lungs even as his throat screams in pain, the flesh being dissolved by Fon's flames to create an unblocked passage. It feels like swallowing acid and shards of glass, topped by razor blades.

"I'm sorry," Fon whispers as Kyouya fades.


	15. Chapter 15

They eat quietly, sitting on opposite sides of the long table. The Arcobaleno takes quick peeks at the other, watching for discomfort from sun healed injuries or… or from the memory Fon had sealed. It isn't anything near sinister, just that Fon can't leave a person like Kyouya with that kind of loss.

It was just all the odds stacked against Kyouya in that fight. Since Fon was there, the average was already higher than Kyouya's level, combined with the lesser creatures making the last one insanely strong.

None of that would've mattered to Kyouya though. If Fon left it, the teen would throw himself into training and simply work until his body couldn't handle it anymore.

Honestly, Fon was able to kill the last creature because his flames are specifically designed for complete and utter destruction, not to mention the fact that he has flames in the first place.

Kyouya would be so angry at Fon if he finds out about flames, but Fon won't let the boy be snatched up by the mafia - not this young, not when he's still growing and figuring out his future.

As for the locked memory; no one is going to ever say anything. The storm made sure of that.

"Kyouya," Fon starts hesitantly. "You remember when you invited me?"

The boy looks up, suspicious, and nods.

Even that memory adjustment has been taken care of.

"I've been reading through the information, and regarding Patrols… the Patrols work by tens. Have you even read this?" Fon asks. "Because I know you – you hate manuals."

Kyouya looks back to his plate and ignores him, taking a bite of rice.

"Say you went into a Patrol like fifty-one. It isn't just your level times five, it's your level _to the power of five_ ," Fon emphasises, knowing he's playing a very dangerous game by risking a memory trigger, but he needs to make the teen understand.

The teenager says nothing, but the air around him is very blatant. _You're boring me._

"Kyouya, without me, you can't go over thirty-nine," Fon orders with a steel edge to his tone.

Chopsticks fly through the air and Fon snatches them away right before they lance through his eyes. Kyouya is already charging down the table, tonfa in his hands. Fon dodges the first kick but catches the tonfa to a shoulder and leaps back out of his seat, sending the chair clattering to the ground.

"I am a carnivore," Kyouya snarls as he drops off the table, pissed that this man thinks Kyouya can be commanded like a toy soldier.

"You're a child," Fon says back.

"So are you," Kyouya murmurs, abruptly calm as he straightens out of his light crouch.

Fon's body flickers and suddenly the Arcobaleno is looking up, up and up to see Kyouya. He desperately calls for the menu, both out loud and in his head, knowing that he can't be out of flames already – he took a break when Kyouya was resting.

The menu never shows and the cursed man stares down at his body with a blank face. The small size is worse than before, his control frayed, because he can still feel his older body just out of his reach.

Kyouya tucks his tonfa away with a blue screen in his periphery, turning to leave without a fight.

Taking the freedom an adult body gives would hurt the man more than any physical pain. Fon might not be a cloud, but to be chained in such an obvious way is humiliating. It's a constant reminder that he trusted the wrong person and that he wasn't strong enough to avoid this fate.

* * *

Kyouya wakes in the night, and keeps still as he fakes sleep. Is Fon going to kill him? He wonders with interest.

A large presence hovers over him despite the man being as small as a child, and Kyouya forces his body to stay soft, compliant with deep sleep, when a hand touches his head. It shifts gently, pushing hair out of his eyes. A kiss is pressed to his forehead and the blankets are pulled up to Kyouya's chin.

The door closes without a sound and the teenager's eyes open as he frowns lightly. That reaction wasn't predicted at all.

This changes things.

* * *

The runway is windy as Kyouya stands at the base of the stairs. They lead up to a private plane, already loaded with Kyouya's bags. Fon stands in front of him, towering over the boy as an adult again. (A gift for entertaining Kyouya.)

"Promise me," Fon begins, willing to push the issue even though he has his adult form back, and can therefore loose it again. Kyouya is far more important than the Arcobaleno problem. "Don't go over thirty-nine."

Kyouya glares and Fon sees the boy broken again with a crushed throat and eyes slipping closed. He grips Kyouya by the arms and slams the teen's back against the stair's rail, leaning in close.

He lets out a sharp breath at the mildly irritated expression he sees and smooths his hands over the boy's shoulders, running them up the sun healed throat to check it doesn't bother Kyouya before resting them on the rail behind the teen.

With the mother's sudden death in a car accident two days ago, Fon is now Kyouya's guardian, and he's doing a wonderful job at alienating the boy already. Fon sighs. Why did he think intimidation would work?

"Kyouya, you need to swear to me you won't go over thirty-nine," Fon begs. "You think I don't know how self-destructive you can get? I know you don't intend for it to be that way, but you need to know your limits."

Kyouya scowls. "I have no limits. Get out of my face, before I bite you to death," he snaps.

"What do you want for the promise?" Fon asks, completely willing to use bribes. He would offer up a fight, but they both know Fon won't use his full strength and Kyouya hates that.

"You have nothing of use to me," the teen scoffs and then gets a gleam in his eyes. "Or perhaps... find me the fairest in the land," Kyouya says, dragging out the words as if tasting them.

Fon grits his teeth at the order.

"I'll give you a year," Kyouya offers, because he's honestly curious and wants to see results. "But if I don't have someone -with skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony- by the end of your time limit, I'll find a Patrol in the seventies and leave my tonfa at home."

Fon rocks back from the hard shove to his shoulder and watches as the teen climbs the steps to the plane, jacket splayed out like wings from the wind.


	16. Chapter 16

Settling into an aeroplane seat, Kyouya wonders what Fon is trying to do. Perhaps it was a bad idea to claim the man as a guardian, because it seems he takes Kyouya's safety very seriously.

Kyouya had originally planned to tell people his mother was on vacation so he wouldn't have to deal with the legal issues being an unaccompanied minor would cause. That night, when Fon came into Kyouya's room and did nothing in response to his adulthood being taken away except tuck the teenager in, the Chairman had changed course.

It seemed like the man could take Kyouya's hits and still keep walking, which is something of a necessity if he plans to stay at Kyouya's side for longer than a week. It also lessens the work on Kyouya's part, since an adult can actually be useful sometimes.

He had slipped out of bed that night –earlier than he had planned, but Kyouya is adaptable- and by the next morning, with a few pointed words to a couple of herbivores, Fon was named guardian.

Kyouya knows the man likes the idea of children, but if faced with one that's actually dependant, Fon would panic. This way, Fon got a child that he could pay house with when he felt sentimental, and Kyouya got a parent to play human with when people wanted to see a normal teenager.

He hums and stretches out across the long, leather couch down one side of the plane. It taxis down the runway, gaining speed and pressing up against gravity.

Admittedly, no, he hadn't read the information on anything relating to the screens. He had no need to, since his attention is focused on the weapon storage and Patrols full of creatures who are made exclusively so Kyouya can fight them.

He had experimented with weaknesses of the gaming system and how it blended into reality, but those features aren't covered in the screen's information menu so he had to discover them himself. Everything else is meaningless to Kyouya.

Why would he want to know people's levels or have a health bar hovering over their head, when he likes surprises so much more?

He's found the options menu, of course, and even played with the settings until he could turn off 'simple' mode which caused another dozen tabs to pop up listing information about classes and story routes, accompanied by a gush of numbers that denote his experience, wisdom, stealth, etc. A lot more skills showed themselves, mostly everyday things like cooking and observation.

The ridiculous amount of nonsense annoyed him so he switched back to simple mode, but not before turning off most notifications. Now the screens didn't appear every time he hunted down an herbivore.

However, a screen did appear when he woke up a few days ago, before that night and that dinner, but he was distracted with trading in for a new adult and never bothered to look too closely at it. Apparently 'Flame' was unlocked though Kyouya doesn't remember doing anything with fire.

He checks again now, easily calling up the menu and flicking off the simple style, before hunting through the multiple tabs up at the top to find skills and then hunting through those to find Flame. It's good that the list is alphabetical or Kyouya would have taken a while.

When he does find it, he taps on the information icon to the side.

[Flame is an ability that levels up with daily actions you take.]

Kyouya frowns at the short sentence telling him absolutely nothing. His eyes land on a little triangle pointing up, and when he clicks it, another list unfolds beneath it like last time he checked.

[Cloud – 87.23

Mist – 14.38

Sky – 13.99

Storm – 10.16

Rain – 8.54

Lightening – 4.20

Sun – 3.72]

Apparently there are seven subcategories under Flame, and each has a number beside it denoting how strong that particular facet is. So from the explanation before, when Kyouya exhibits a particular action, the weathers gain points.

He had tried to activate it before, but a screen popped up and said –

[A key is needed.]

He's been checking on it the past few days on and off again, to see when it levels up so he knows what activated it. He's not sure what it means, but usually when he decides he can't stand Fon anymore and leaves, the Cloud aspect rises in number. Cloud seems to be winning by a great margin.

Another facet is Mist, which immediately set Kyouya on edge when he first found it, because he's still half expecting someone to step out and declare themselves his enemy. Admittedly, after so long, he's not all that certain it is a Mist user playing with him.

He'll have to find the 'key' to be able to work with the Mist sector of his Flame. That way he can finally determine if the screens are able to be made by a user of Mist, and then he can really start hunting the herbivore down. He's still contemplating what else could have made the complex game simulation, but he's coming up blank.

He shuts down the screen and rolls over to face the back of the couch.

Still, disregarding the mystery behind the screens, there's the issue of why Fon insists that Kyouya can't face a Patrol over thirty-nine. The warning in the man's words is still ringing through Kyouya's head.

Why is the man so desperate to get a promise? It's more than being cautious against creatures in the Patrol; its intense worry in the man's tone. It makes no sense for Fon to be that scared, after all the man is a dangerous killer, he wouldn't panic at a hypothetic scenario.

Although, maybe Fon is right to be cautious.

Kyouya knows that he's weak. Of course he does, because no matter how hard he trains his body and perfects his movements, he'll never achieve Fon's level.

Not because he can't, but because he's in Namimori where nothing dangerous ever happens and the most he can do is let yakuza slip in and then take them out when they get strong. He needs experience with people stronger than him to get better at fighting, but he hesitates to leave his beloved town. His DC and little legion aren't ready yet.

Unfortunately, after years of playing around with civilian level criminals, he slips into the mindset of 'I'm the strongest' even though he tries so hard not to, and his ability suffers. He simply stops pushing himself to be better, and while he never neglects his body, he's stationary - just frozen.

He could be so much more, yet he doesn't even contemplate it for longer than a moment. Despite all his mental discipline, he imagines himself stronger -growing at the pace he did as a child just starting out- and he can't help the mental flinch. Why would he want to be that strong when he could already take down any troublemakers with his hands still in his pockets?

He likes his patrols, and he likes fighting, but it's become boring and monotonous in the worst ways. He tries to make it a challenge again, which is why he gives some a head start or deliberately herds them around, but even that is quickly losing its fun.

He still sees the fire in the herbivores' eyes sometimes when he strikes out, but he's lost the hope for a proper fight. They used to be able to overpower him occasionally, even just for a brief moment before he got his footing back and bit them to death, and he'd invite them into the Disciplinary Committee.

Now, he recruits based on 'they might have managed if I was still eight years old' or 'that one has a nice fear'.

It makes him angry at himself, to just give up like this when he's not even near his peak, but again he sees the 'what if' and cringes back. He'd gladly lay down his tonfa and armband, than be so strong he comes to hate fighting.

He can't even deliberately seek anyone out, because he has Namimori to care for. It honestly feels like betrayal, because here he is, not even trying to be subtle about his bloodlust, but no one comes to fight or try to recruit him.

The Triads might have an excuse because his father used to keep them away from Kyouya, but the Italian mafia is just as widespread so their neglect is disappointing.

It's probably because he's so weak that they just don't bother with him.

Isn't that just ironic.

He has this new power as well. This game that lets him hold more weapons than he could ever possibly need, and gives him opponents who actually desire to fight him whenever he steps into the Patrol, and yet he can't use it because why would he want to get stronger when there's no one to battle?

So even though he does have a stock of weaponry, he only uses his tonfa and those sickle bones on Patrols, and only his tonfa with herbivores. He's gotten to the point that he simply watches his herbivores go through a Patrol, stepping in if they were seriously struggling but otherwise hanging back.

He doesn't want to be this way. He doesn't want to look behind him and wish for his younger years more than he wants to look forward and keep walking.

Maybe Fon was right to drag a promise out of him, but Kyouya will change things – become stronger.

He'll have to build himself a carnivore to fight against, it seems.

* * *

.

A/N: I just checked - a hundred views. Guys, wow. Okay. Imma go write another chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

To start with, he'll build up his already acquired training partners. Kyouya had decided against inviting them before now, because if it was malicious then he would have been risking his pompadours. However, the game does give an edge if you know how to work with it (or around it) and maybe they'll challenge him.

The first thing Kyouya does when he gets back, is add all of his Disciplinary Committee to the Hunt.

Well, not exactly. Namimori doesn't have an airport, and Kyouya has mainly concentrated his rule inside the borders of the town, so he actually has to bite the police to death when he gets out of the Kokuyo airport, because the officers have spotted a few red armbands -who are most definitely not old enough for a license- idling in cars in the outside parking spaces.

Then he has to corral his pompadours back into the two cars which is worse than herding cats, because cats actually listen to Kyouya. Only when most of them have gotten in, does he realise that there isn't enough space for all of them.

Why they insist on welcoming him back, he doesn't know. What completely escapes him, is why all of the available Disciplinary members came.

He doesn't let the smallest sit on someone's lap, because on the off chance something happens, they won't have a seatbelt and they'll get slammed around the car's interior. In effort to be nice, he doesn't order one into the trunk either despite it being relatively safe for the unfortunate victim.

He calls for another car instead, and they spend the waiting time picking out people who snuck past customs. Then they make citizens' arrests, with perhaps more violence than necessary.

When the car turns up, it's also full of pompadours who don't have anything better to do than make Kyouya's life more complicated.

Kyouya sighs heavily and shoves the one closest to him into a trunk.

They look sheepish and murmur apologies that they don't mean. If they were anything else but his, he would have destroyed them long ago. Unfortunately, it's not possible for him to be more than fondly exasperated with his pets.

With the whole ridiculousness, he forgets to add them until the next day.

They don't immediately accept, because they know better than that. Instead, they find him at his usual haunts, ducking in quickly to give him searching looks. He gives a brief nod of acknowledgement and they tap the yes button.

When they've all joined, he starts to ease himself back into proper training, starting with the Quest that points him to a crowd of herbivores.

* * *

"Where did you find those?" Tetsuya asks, sitting across the coffee table from the Chairman.

Kyouya glances up and leans back into the couch. The butterfly blending in with his hair flutters at the shift in position and settles again with its wings open, displaying black edges that bleed into a beautiful blue centre.

The snake in his lap continues threading through his spread fingers, the neon pink and purple with an equally bright yellow stomach declaring the reptile poisonous. The jutting scales slide over Kyouya's skin as it weaves between his upraised hands, calm in its usual environment off the ground.

The rest of the animals that sprung up in the early morning are in a different part of the house where its temperature controlled to cater for the different climates the animals are used to.

"There was a smuggling ring crossing my territory," Kyouya answers simply. "You were asleep."

"Okay," Tetsuya murmurs, engaged in a staring contest with the Atheris viper. "Please wake me up next time."

Kyouya says nothing.

"You are aware that you can't keep them, right?" Tetsuya says slowly. "Japan isn't their native environment, and while this house is definitely large, I think they might enjoy free range hunting better."

Kyouya hums.

"And all of them are poisonous," Tetsuya adds on, glancing up at the butterfly. "Accidents could happen."

The Chairman rolls his eyes but lets out a sigh. "Fine, but I'm keeping Hisnake."

"Also, you are not allowed to name anything. We spoke about this, Hibari-san."

"She can cause severe haemorrhaging," Kyouya begins, raising the snake in his hands. " _I_ can cause sever haemorrhaging. Do not question me."

[Pompadour 28: Chairman, we did have an intervention about the whole naming thing.

Pompadour 28: Also, I find it mildly offensive that my name is 'Pompadour 28'.]

Kyouya stares at the screen hovering dutifully and then pins Tetsuya with his gaze.

"We're part of your Hunt, so we get the ability to chat," Tetsuya explains. "And if you don't regulate the options for Hunt, we can 'screen peek' over your shoulder."

The DC leader glances over his shoulder warily, not quite sure what he was expecting to see, but nothing stands out. He turns back and opens his mouth to ask how to screen peek when his vision is covered with blue.

[Pompadour 16: Hi!

Pompadour 30: Hello.

Pompadour 7: Good afternoon.

Pompadour 49: Hey Chairman.

Pompadour 12: Sorry for the distraction.

Pompadour 34: I like the name Satsuki or Hikari.

Pompadour 41: You can keep one, but only one. Please don't hide them when we have to collect them.

Pompadour 25: The little legion are asking about you.] 

Kyouya closes his mouth and has to blink a few times. The screens keep popping up and disappearing rapidly as his Disciplinary Committee send him messages.

"Hibari-san, it looks like this," Tetsuya says. He now has a small screen in front of him, which he grabs by the corner to rotate then by the bottom edge to move it closer to Kyouya.

The Chairman unwinds a hand from the snake and leans forward to take the screen by an edge. He pulls back to sit properly on his chair and scans the image.

It's angled so it catches his left side most, peeking over his shoulder and slightly down from a height perhaps half a meter above his head. Its gaze reaches the walls of the medium sized room in front of Kyouya and either side.

He turns his head experimentally and the screen follows the movement easily, hovering at the same point. There are two small circles at the bottom left corner with an up arrow and a right arrow respectively. When Kyouya taps on the up one, the view of himself tilts up a bit. The side arrow makes the camera view spin around his body.

There's a pause as he digests this, and then he immediately calls up the menu screen and turns off simple mode. Then he finds the Hunt list and taps 'all' at the top before opening the settings and taking away permission for 'double screen'.

The screen in his hand dissolves automatically.

[Pompadour 13: Aww, Chairman.]

Kyouya quickly takes away 'private chat' as well but unblocks 'chat room'. A small blue circle appears at his top left with the number one in it, which quickly changes to two, and then keeps building as his pompadours speak with each other.

He decides to not touch the circle, rightly assuming that it would expand to a chat log, and instead turns to Tetsuya.

"And when were you going to tell me about that?" Kyouya murmurs, running his fingers along the ridged back of the neon reptile.

"Whenever you found out," Tetsuya replies easily.

It's a count of three until Kyouya drops the reptile onto the arm of his couch as he rushes the already fleeing pompadour.


	18. Chapter 18

The two herbivores Kyouya left behind are desperately avoiding him.

There was a sense of expectation at first as Kyouya waited for the knock on his door or a cheerful shout as he walked through Namimori. It never came, and soon the habit to look around disappeared entirely.

In the two weeks following his return from China, as he ignores daily calls from Fon, he takes to actually pushing himself in training.

Of course he still naps on the school roof and supervises any dealings in Namimori middle, but usually when he's outside, he's seen biting trouble makers and slipping into Patrols (under thirty-nine because he promised).

During this, he often passes batting cages and the sushi restaurant as well as walking the specific set of streets that form a lap around the town. Flashes of black and white hair dart away in his periphery, while the sounds of shouting and laughter cut off abruptly when he turns corners.

It's incredibly hard to not notice the avoidance as they are blatantly obvious in their intent. Fear is a thick miasma when Kyouya passes, and there's an undercurrent of anger that grows as the days roll by.

Kyouya is waiting for the snap - for the moment they finally confront him. Not because he's nervous or eager, but because they're distracting him.

He has no particular fondness for them. They were just an experiment to pass the time – a beta test so Kyouya can work out all the cracks in his plan for the next herbivore he picks up.

Or maybe he'll stop at these two and simply use his pompadours, since the results from the herbivores have been unfavourable.

At first, they were just test subjects for the game parameters, but somewhere along the way he started thinking of other uses.

In truth, even before the decision to make his Disciplinary Committee stronger, Kyouya had planned on building himself a carnivore to play with, instead of waiting around for one to show up.

The two had been growing so well. They ate up every instruction he gave them and actually incorporated the fighting moves he taught. It honestly seemed like Kyouya had two prodigies on his hands with the way they were advancing so quickly from just a few nudges and the Patrols to put it all into practice.

They eagerly leapt at him like puppies desperate for a treat, and he did reward good behaviour by giving them walks and stepping in if they couldn't handle a Patrol. Kyouya even deigned to play fetch with the smiling one and bought new equipment for the loud one.

However, they broke far too easily.

Admittedly, it isn't their fault for the large jump back. It's entirely on Kyouya that their training crumbled so quickly.

Of course, he can still continue with them, but he's not sure if he wants to bother. The way things are right now, they're expecting something like an apology or an admission of guilt, and they honestly think they have a right to it.

If it wasn't so mystifying, Kyouya would find it amusing.

It's not like they're still dead, nor did they feel any pain at all. They woke up perfectly fine, with the understanding that they battled one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse and won.

Why don't they find it interesting? Do they not see the potential? Kyouya doesn't have to hold back now. If he really wants to see someone's full potential, but also wants to keep them, he can do both.

Then there's the whole curing illness as well, of course.

Still, with the way the two are reacting, he's leaning more towards dropping them. Because really, Kyouya doesn't care about hurt feelings.

* * *

Kyouya's stride brings him closer to a loud argument on the border of the Namimori forest. In between the tall trees he finds a group of noisy herbivores circling a downed figure. He estimates their ages to be late teens and their fighting power to be above average.

A loud exclamation, something about being manly and extreme, comes from the figure getting to his feet. Kyouya rolls his eyes and flings a tonfa at one of the herbivores to intercept a punch.

"You will be bitten to death for crowding," Kyouya explains calmly, his walk smooth as he steps into the circle and picks up his tonfa from beside the downed herbivore.

Much to Kyouya's delight, they take up stances and spit a few insults at him. They don't last long, but he's found another girl for his Disciplinary Committee. He makes a mental note to hunt her down when she's conscious again.

"How dare you," comes a quiet voice, anger overridden with an incredulous tone.

Kyouya tucks his tonfa away and turns to find the boxer glaring at him.

"You murder Takeshi and I, then just leave," Ryohei says slowly, accusingly. "And when you come back you don't even look ashamed – like seeing our corpses meant nothing to you!"

"I'll state this plainly," Kyouya offers. "Your death was not the bloodiest, nor the most violent, nor the most heart wrenching I've seen."

Ryohei retreats a step when Kyouya moves closer.

"In fact, it was the most peaceful death you could ever experience," Kyouya admits, not unkindly. "After all, you were a corpse before you could even register my attack."

Ryohei backs himself into a tree when Kyouya continues his advance. The shorter teen stares up at Ryohei, far too close.

"There was no pain, no nervous expectation, and no permanent consequence," Kyouya states slowly. "So do excuse my manners if you somehow take offence that I used you as a test subject," Kyouya drawls sarcastically then narrows his eyes. "But until you have a logical argument, you have no ground to stand on. I'm not going to beg for your forgiveness just to calm your ridiculous anger."

Ryohei clenches his jaw and breathes deeply as Kyouya turns and walks away.

* * *

Takeshi frowns after the tense shoulders of the boxer, watching as the teenager storms off after repeating Kyouya's words.

The whole situation seems odd to Takeshi. It's not like Kyouya to be intentionally cruel – the middle schooler might like fighting but he doesn't drag out the beating, and from what Takeshi has seen, nothing goes past bruises.

There must be a reason why Kyouya did it, and it's definitely linked to his talk with Ryohei. Maybe the Chairman is defensive and worded his explanation to hurt?

Takeshi frowns and catches himself trailing fingers over his jaw, following the path of Kyouya's light touch from weeks ago.

Takeshi needs to see someone who can understand Kyouya. He'll figure it out, and he'll help Kyouya with whatever the problem is.


	19. Chapter 19

"Yo!" a bright voice calls out.

Tetsuya turns, blinking in confusion as Takeshi's jog comes to a halt beside him. The baseball enthusiast has a wide grin, friendly and open, but his focus on the DC member is intense.

"Hello," Tetsuya sounds out. He thought the boy would have stayed far away from anything related to Kyouya.

"I was wondering," Takeshi begins in a low voice, solemn apart from the habitual smile. "Did anything happen to him around the time he…?"

Tetsuya knows exactly what the teen in front of him is asking, but he pauses anyway to debate internally. The Chairman had informed Tetsuya of the events during his leave, so the pompadour technically knows the answer.

Perhaps it counts as giving away his superiors secrets, but the Chairman hasn't said anything about keeping the Hibari family from public knowledge. Besides, Kyouya seemed pleased with the two teenagers before.

Tetsuya dismisses his thoughts and decides to go for it. "I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour towards you, but his father was actually quite sick," he reveals. "He tested the factor on you and Sasagawa – I think you remember how you had a cold in the days leading up to it?"

Takeshi nods slowly.

"Chairman was testing that if he linked his father and then killed him… if the older Hibari would come back in full health."

"…I did," Takeshi murmurs. "I wasn't sick when I woke up."

"Yes, and almost immediately after the incident, he left to his father."

"Did it work?" Takeshi asks softly. "Is Kyouya's dad alright?"

Tetsuya hums. "…Hibari-san did not make it in time."

"Oh," Takeshi says quietly.

"It's unfortunate," Tetsuya admits. "Especially since Hibari-san's mother also passed a few days later."

Takeshi looks away, running the information through his mind and gaining a determined look. "Thank you, Kusakabe," the teenager says calmly. "Don't worry, I won't let him be lonely."

Tetsuya nods, but the boy is already sprinting down the street. The Disciplinary member gazes after the other and smirks. The view outsiders have of Kyouya tends to be rather mistaken.

Lonely? No, the Chairman has an entire army.

It's not crowding if Kyouya sees them as particularly humanoid pets – maybe like furniture, or perhaps cacti that Kyouya occasionally has to water to keep alive.

Tetsuya does briefly wonder if Takeshi will ever find out the truth. Not that he lied to the boy, but context is key to understanding. Especially since Kyouya was less sad and more mildly irritated because one of his things was taken from him. In fact, the teenager seems to have completely forgotten the incident after getting revenge.

That's another truth Tetsuya bent a little; not mentioning what Kyouya's mother died from. Or who she died from.

He shakes the thoughts away and continues at a brisk walk home. They were sending the animals back today and every able body was needed because Kyouya is definitely going to hide some around the house.

* * *

"Welcome home," Ren greets Tetsuya when the other teenager steps through the front door. "I mean – damn it." Ren face palms at his slip of the tongue.

The other Disciplinary members always call Kyouya's house home, because they're all insane and pretty much live there anyway. It's beginning to infect Ren, but at least he hasn't suddenly decided to take up the pompadour hairstyle. Yet.

"Don't fight it," is Tetsuya's stunningly helpful advice as he closes the door behind him and claps Ren on the back.

"I'm part of a cult," Ren grumbles and then adds on sarcastically, "My parents should be proud."

"Your sister sure is!" another voice calls out further inside the house.

"Oh man, I miss the little legion," yet another sighs as they step into the hallway where Ren and Tetsuya stand. "I haven't seen them in forever." Her arms are laden with a large, circular fish bowl.

The small puffer fish inside hovers lazily and watches with too sharp eyes.

Ren doesn't notice he's engaged the fish in a staring contest until Tetsuya clears his throat pointedly.

"How many have we found?" Tetsuya asks, ignoring the other male slamming his head into a wall.

"Nine," Ren grumbles, resting his forehead against the wall. He's going insane. "The estimated total was twelve, but it's not concrete."

Tetsuya hums and walks further into the house, Ren going back to searching the shoes left by the door for a poison dart frog as the third takes her fish outside to the waiting truck.

Through open doors, Tetsuya sees more red armbands peeking under furniture and into decorative vases for any hidden animals.

A Disciplinary member steps out of a room ahead, carrying a scorpion in his bare hands and cooing to it.

"Can I have everyone's attention?" Tetsuya calls out, coming to a stop as the male passes him.

Heads poke out of doorways in front and behind him while the scorpion guy stops and turns to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Please remember that every single one of these animals is poisonous in some way," he says, not loudly but making sure his voice carries nonetheless. "Use containers, and for my peace of mind, never use your bare hands."

The pompadour winces and looks down as the Deathstalker scorpion in his hands. "Sorry," he mutters sheepishly.

"Its fine," Tetsuya says in his normal volume. "Just… for next time."

"I found the box jellyfish!" calls out an excited voice. "It's in a watering can!"

"Don't touch it!" Tetsuya calls back.

The silence after that is telling.

The Vice-Chairman loses the internal battle and face palms.

The rest of the day goes by quickly as they hunt down the animals around the house and backyard. One of the pompadours almost killed the Brazilian wandering spider when it scuttled underfoot in all its fifteen centimetre leg span glory.

They found the Inland taipan as well, and Tetsuya thanked every God he could name that its behaviour is non-aggressive, because he was the one who accidentally stepped on it.

The sun fell and night rose but they continued searching because despite not having found anything for the past few hours, they don't know the total number Kyouya brought in.

They can't ask the Chairman either, because he won't answer.

Tetsuya sighs and straightens from his kneeling position where he was searching under the dining table. His eyes land on Kyouya, who is calmly eating diner as the Disciplinary Committee move around him.

An idea occurs to Tetsuya then. Kyouya had promised that he'll only hide animals around the house (not in so many words, of course, because he won't admit to doing such a thing) and the pompadours have checked every centimetre of the building.

He stands and slowly makes his way over to the Chairman until he's hovering beside the chair. The other pompadours stop what they're doing and watch in interest. Kyouya doesn't give any indication he sees Tetsuya, snatching up a strip of meat with his chopsticks.

Tetsuya rips the jacket from Kyouya's shoulders and three animals scatter.

The hooded pitohui bird takes to the ceiling while a small glass bottle of seawater with the marbled cone snail falls from a pocket. The king cobra wound around Kyouya's back and upper arms raises it head and hisses in anger, preparing to lunge.

Kyouya calmly places the meat back, rests the chopstick on their stand, and strokes a hand down the snake's scaled hide. It calms immediately and moves to butt its head against Kyouya's temple.

Then both of the deadly animals look up at Tetsuya and blink innocently.

"Only one, Hibari-san," Tetsuya says regretfully, placing the jacket back on Kyouya's shoulders.

The African bush viper makes it colourful appearance by uncurling form around Kyouya's ankle and slithering up to coil around a forearm. The neon snake stares up at the black snake and they still.

Tetsuya watches with a mild curiosity as the two slowly move closer until their heads are almost touching.

"Are they gonna kiss?" whispers a particularly romantic pompadour.

In a split second, the viper's head is suddenly in the cobra's mouth. Half the room starts screaming in panic while the rest laugh so hard they start to tear up.

Kyouya rolls his eyes and starts untangling the snakes. The cobra hadn't bitten down, it was just playing around.

"They tried to eat each other!" the romantic shrieks in horror.

* * *

.

A/N:

 **Which animal should he keep?** It just has to be poisonous so you can recommend one that I didn't write about.

(Don't review saying the spider – he's not keeping the spider.)


	20. Chapter 20

Kyouya says nothing when Ryohei doesn't run from him the next time they pass in the hall. In fact the boxer goes so far as to call out a greeting in his usual level of noise. Kyouya doesn't bite the herbivore to death because it's better to get rid of the white haired menace quickly, otherwise Ryohei will latch on and not let go.

Unfortunately for Kyouya, it's far too late. Ryohei stops when the two reach each other in the middle of the corridor and holds out a hand when Kyouya looks like he won't stop as well. The Chairman freezes when the boxer's large hand presses against his abdomen, palm flat and fingers spread almost to either side of his waist.

The herbivores walking through the hall around the two pause, completely stunned at the audacity of Ryohei, who had actually dared to physically stop the Disciplinary Chairman.

"I'm not sorry about before," Ryohei says in a quiet voice to half keep the conversation private. "You were still in the wrong to do that to us, but I want to keep being friends."

The students around try to lean forward to hear, but because of Kyouya, the closest is still twenty meters away.

Kyouya himself is rather stunned. He looks down at the hand still touching him and then up at Ryohei. First, the herbivores touches him. Then he words his rehearsed speech –because it definitely is scripted- like Kyouya was expecting an apology. Finally, the herbivore still thinks that Kyouya should feel guilty.

The Chairman is seconds away from drawing his tonfa and detaching that hand. However, there is the matter of test subjects. Kyouya isn't going to use his Disciplinary Committee for patient zero, and finding new ones at the same level of fighting skill as the two loud ones is going to take time and effort Kyouya doesn't care to waste.

"Take your hand off me," Kyouya orders.

Ryohei looks down and blinks in confusion when he sees he's still touching Kyouya. He pulls away with a bashful grin, which grows to a fond look when Kyouya rolls his eyes.

"Patrol nineteen needs three people," Kyouya declares and then continues his path down the hall, calling back, "Thursday, by the park."

"I'll extremely meet you there!" Ryohei calls with a fist pump. The bell rings then and he has to sprint for class to make it in time, along with the rest of the silent observers in the hall way.

* * *

Takeshi approaches Kyouya in a different way.

Ryohei is all about being blunt and straight-forward, so it's understandable that his way of dealing with people is the same.

Takeshi on the other hand, while he enjoys annoying people with an oblivious face on, isn't confrontational. He would more likely get revenge by slowly chipping at the edges of a person's world by stealing friends or getting his target fired from a job.

Ryohei would be pacified with a heartfelt apology or a really good fight. Kyouya is the same, in that he'll deal back the injuries he received and then forget about the incident. Takeshi, if pushed to such a state, wouldn't stop until he has his victim standing on a chair and clutching a loop of rope in their hand.

The baseballer would have been the biggest threat, but the teen is only young and he doesn't quite understand the need for revenge. That, and he has his own mother's death to contemplate. If Takeshi was able, he would have tried anything to save his mother.

Kyouya was informed that Tetsuya spoke about the China trip, which would have endeared Kyouya to Takeshi, because the younger would have linked the death of a parent and reached the conclusion that Kyouya was just desperate to keep his father alive.

So, Kyouya was expecting something different for their first meeting, but he didn't expect this.

"I made it myself," Takeshi says with a chuckle, striding through the door he opened without knocking and moving across the room to stop in front of Kyouya with a lunchbox in his hands. He can't put it on the table because it's entirely covered in files.

Kyouya slowly places the paper he was reading on the table and looks back out the door to find a red armband shutting the door to the DC room. He then peers down at the plastic box, a dark shade of green, and then up at Takeshi.

"Don't worry, I help out at the restaurant, I know how to cook," Takeshi says with a thumbs up and a grin. "Try it and tell me what you think."

Kyouya stares at the herbivore for a brief moment and then stands, snatching the box up as he moves to the couches. He takes a seat on the one with his jacket laid over an arm. Takeshi follows with a bounce in his step and almost as soon as he sits down on the couch opposite, the red armband from the door appears and sets down a tray of drinks on the coffee table in between the two before leaving.

Takeshi blinks. "Wow, that's good service. Do they all do that?"

Kyouya nods as he sets the lid down on the table. The box is filled with different types of sushi, most styled into baby animals.

He's deeply conflicted because he wants to keep the fluffy balls of rice as cute, rounded little birds. There are toppings that act as feathers or decorations on the chicks, and on one, the filling seems to be poking out as a beak.

"Do you not like the theme?" Takeshi asks. "I heard that when people give lunch, it's better to be styled so the person receiving it knows how much effort you put in."

"Where exactly did you hear this?" Kyouya murmurs. He eventually decides that he's hungry and gently starts pulling one of the birds apart so he wasn't technically eating the chick. He can always order the herbivore to make more later.

"Some of the students in my class were talking about it," Takeshi responds easily, tilting his head to the side.

Kyouya has to work to find the tell but once he has it, he rolls his eyes. Takeshi is just playing dumb, he knows that the practice is usually between couples or a person would give it to someone they like.

Just as Kyouya is taking a bite, Takeshi speaks up.

"It was kind of mean of me, to make you eat cute things," he says with a smirk. "I just really wanted to see what you would do."

Kyouya pauses, the ends of the chopsticks still in his mouth, but it does taste good and the herbivore can be beaten anytime. He continues eating.

"It seems like you can't eat one of the animals without pulling it apart until it just looks like food," Takeshi continues with a laugh. "That's really adorable."

Takeshi jerks backwards in shock when Kyouya's hand flashes out and the chopsticks are suddenly pinning Takeshi's shirt to the couch back. He stares down at them, incredulous, because the blunted and flimsy pieces of mass produced wood not only stabbed a hole through his clothes but also sunk halfway into the leather couch.

"Is that a game thing?" Takeshi blurts out, heedless of the rather blatant threat. "I don't think this is physically possible otherwise."

"Sure," Kyouya drawls. "Let's go with that." He easily reaches forward for the drinks tray and unfolds a rolled napkin on one side, revealing a set of intricately carved chopsticks.

Takeshi, in the middle of yanking one of the projectiles out of the couch and his shirt, raises an eyebrow. "Does the chopstick throwing usually happen then?"

"You'd be surprised how often," Kyouya retorts, delicately pulling another bird apart.

"No, no I don't think I would be," Takeshi chuckles, placing the freed utensils on the drinks tray and pouring himself a glass of water from the jug. It even has a slice of lemon in it and a mint leaf. Takeshi tries to stop smiling so he can actually drink.

Kyouya sees the struggle the herbivore is engaged in and looks away before he does something.

Lunch continues with Takeshi keeping up a running commentary of what he did while Kyouya was away. Observations about Namimori slip into the stories, like Kyouya had conditioned, and the Chairman makes a note to check the park at night because Takeshi spoke about a group of adults hanging around.

Kyouya finishes most of the lunch box and Takeshi munches on the rest. In the silence of the herbivore eating, the door opens.

"Hibari-san, there's a situation near the high school," a Disciplinary girl informs the Chairman.

Kyouya glances over and then rises gracefully, slipping the jacket beside him onto his shoulders. As a last test, he makes sure to pass behind the other couch and a jacket sleeve brushes the herbivore's shoulders. Kyouya sees the flinch and the aborted movement to reach for a jaw line.

"Next time, don't make it themed," he says and slips out through the door.

He wonders why the herbivore is trying when he's still so scared. Kyouya may not understand their anger but if he places them next to a control group of herbivores, their behaviour stands out as far more apathetic.

From what Kyouya knows, herbivores would usually call police or try and get revenge. At the very least, most would normally avoid the one who hurt them, but then again Kyouya has beaten both many times trying to get them to advance in fighting. Not that either of the first two options would work, but both Ryohei and Takeshi haven't tried anything.

Ryohei attacked when it happened, but that was only meant to pin Kyouya down so Ryohei would get a proper answer for why Takeshi was taken out. It wasn't meant to hurt.

Kyouya guesses it's because they're so young that they differ from the usual control group reactions.

Takeshi only woke up after everything was done, and likely had to be told what happened. Ryohei is the most affected because he saw Takeshi's death even when he didn't see his own, but since the kills were painless it was only the anger at being treated like that to carry him on.

Even then, the anger is just from what he's picked up on. He's learned that killing is bad, and that murderers get punished by jail time, which makes Ryohei think that he should be upset.

From their reactions it seems that now, almost adjusted to Kyouya's liking, they're thinking death is normal – especially with the Patrol runs where everything in sight is killed.

Kyouya smirks in excitement at the thought of herbivores slowly becoming carnivores. A small circle beside the DC group chat appears with the number one inside it. Kyouya assumes it's the notification for Sighting Prey levelling up, because he's certainly feeling a lot of bloodlust right now.


	21. Chapter 21

Kyouya is stretched out on the single seater couch, sideways with his legs slung over one couch arm and his head pillowed on another. A book is balanced on his chest and he's lazily flicking through the pages as he reads. Of course, he could use the instant absorption that the game advertises but it's not necessary and he likes the act of legitimately reading.

The sound of scales gliding along the floor tells Kyouya the king cobra is entering the room and he lets his head roll to the side so he can observe it. The snake, mentally dubbed Hisnake until the Disciplinary Committee can decide on a name, is the animal he chose to keep.

Or at least that's what his pompadours think. Kyouya isn't proud of his actions, but stealing back the Atheris at the last minute isn't something he regrets. The African bush viper has to stay in his room so the herbivores wandering around the house don't see it, but it seems content there with the large terrarium.

He watches as the cobra makes is way straight to Kyouya, pushing its head off the ground when it reaches the couch so it can stare up at the teenager. He hums and closes his book, leaving it balanced precariously on his knees, before dropping an arm down off the side of the couch.

The snake hisses and pushes his head into Kyouya's fingers before starting to wind up the limb. He glances at the second blue circle beside the Disciplinary chat when the number one appears, but leaves it for now.

The cobra climbs up the makeshift ladder until it's coiled on Kyouya's stomach. It pauses for a moment, looking at the book, and then tosses the novel off the teenager's knees with a lash of its tail. Kyouya rolls his eyes but lets the snake sprawl over him territorially.

When Hisnake is settled Kyouya turns his attention to the notification. He runs his fingers down the snake's back with one hand and uses the other to tap on the circle. A screen appears.

[Sickness has been activated.

Sickness: 1%]

He frowns in annoyance. He hates being sick. He forgets about it soon enough when the snake on his torso moves to get his attention.

* * *

He's lying in his room, stretched out on his stomach and propped up by elbows with the cobra lounging on his back and the viper looped around his neck like a particularly colourful scarf. He glances over his shoulder when the cobra starts sliding up his spine and has to reach back and push it back down when it starts trying to eat the bush viper.

He faces forward again and continues flicking through the screens to find the search bar his DC were talking about. He finds settings and scrolls down to the map section, before stopping on the box that allows a name to be used.

Apparently the map would create an arrow that turned to tell you where that person was in reference to where the user was facing. When he taps the box to turn the option on, a screen pops up.

[Results may vary with mist users.]

Kyouya narrows his eyes at the reference but he does understand since he read the mist book. Users can shield themselves from the senses which apparently translates to maps.

He lets out a huff and lazily makes his way through the tabs in search for nothing in particular. He pauses when a wave of dizziness washes over him and he has to close his eyes when the room feels like its shifting underneath him.

His eyes snap open when the feeling lessens, but it doesn't disappear. He quickly flicks through and finds the sickness under the avatar tab.

[Sickness: 43%]

Kyouya idly wonders what happens when it reaches one hundred, but gently unwinds the snakes from his body and gets to his feet to call over his GP.

* * *

Takeshi pauses in eating and leans back against the wall like the other two. The days is warm and the sun is shining brightly down on the middle school's rooftop. Students aren't actually allowed be on the roof but since Takeshi and Ryohei are with Kyouya, no one is going to say anything.

Takeshi frowns and tilts his head to better see the bulge in Kyouya's pants. It's moving. The frown grows deeper in confusion as the bulge shifts a few centimetres towards Takeshi. He leans closer subtly, so he doesn't alert Kyouya, and tries to discern what the lump is doing.

There's a wiggle and a shift before a neon snake suddenly falls out of Kyouya's pocket, landing on its back. It rolls about until it's right way up and blinks at the shocked watcher. Takeshi can't help but laugh.

"What are you doing?" Kyouya asks, peering sideways at the baseballer.

Takeshi chuckles again and sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "I thought it was your dic-"

A tonfa to the face knocked Takeshi back into the wall with a hollow thunk, just shy of the noise a concussion makes. When Kyouya pulls his tonfa away, the teen slides across the wall to the side and flops to the ground, unconscious.

"Admittedly," Ryohei chimes in, having also been watching the bush viper. "He was paying you a compliment because that pet made you look huge-"

A second swing and Ryohei isn't able to talk anymore. The tonfa are tucked away as the boxer slumps forwards over his crossed legs, forehead almost touching the ground, also unconscious.

Kyouya packs up his lunch calmly and stands. He knew this crowding thing was a bad idea. He strides back to his room with a predator's grace, the neon snake slithering along the concrete behind him, following at his heels.

His vision blacks out just before he reaches the door, but he holds still and it reappears again soon enough. The doctor couldn't find anything obviously wrong yesterday and the blood work is due back in a few days.

Kyouya breathes deeply, pushing the dizziness to the back of his mind, and continues down the stairs at a slower pace.

* * *

"What?!" cries out a boy and is immediately shushed by his friends.

They watch as Hibari Kyouya walks through the school gate, a slump to his shoulders and an actual school bag in one hand.

"I didn't know he had a bag," another student comments.

"It's already eight forty, why is he walking in now?"

"Holy shit, he doesn't live here?"

Kyouya, irritated because of his sickness and frustrated at how his senses are stifled thanks to it, let's the comments go. He's more intent on simply getting to his roof and sleeping.

The students watch as a Disciplinary Committee member hustles up to the prefect, takes the bag and darts away again.

* * *

Ren says a quick prayer and opens the door to the roof. He freezes there, but when the still body doesn't move he quietly makes his way over to crouch at the figure's back, leaning forward slightly to watch if the Chairman's eyes open.

"Hibari-san?" he whispers to the teen loosely curled on his side. "Hibari-san, please wake up. I need to check if you've developed a fever."

A hand shoots up and latches onto his shirt.

He has about half a second to acknowledge his death before he's yanked to the floor. When Kyouya's head finds his shoulder, the hand still gripping his shirt tightly, poor Ren freezes in effort to not wake up the already sleeping Chairman.

Good news: Kyouya does not have a fever.

* * *

The three other Disciplinary Committee members in the doorway to the roof say their teary farewells to Ren and whisper promises of helping his family through the teen's death, before closing the door quietly and creeping away.

* * *

Ren has had a good life, he admits. He's had bad spots of course but he still has a loving mother and father, and a sister who looks up to him.

He joined the judo team even before primary school and has kept up with it even now, which was a great help when he was conscripted to the Disciplinary Committee. He's found himself friends as well, others who thrive in a fighting environment.

Yeah, he's had a good life.

The Chairman snuffles a little, pressing further against Ren's side for warmth. Ren can't feel his arm from where it's trapped under the Chairman's head. He can't seems to find his panic or shock either. This is most likely a bad thing, he knows, seeing as the teen at his side is waking up.

Kyouya blinks at the herbivore and sits up, eyes wandering around the scenery with a glazed quality. "Hn."

"Good evening, Hibari-san," Ren says calmly.

"Herbivore."

"Yes, Hibari-san?" Ren braces himself.

"Hn."

"There have been no disturbances in Namimori, and no one has entered the roof," Ren reports, stifling a grimace at the pins and needles starting up in the arm Kyouya had been sleeping on.

Kyouya stands and has to pause when his vision blacks out and the world turns an abrupt ninety degrees. When it snaps back again he continues to the Disciplinary Committee room.

Ren still waits a few more minutes before letting out a relived sigh and standing up. He heads for home, intent on telling his family he loves them.

* * *

.

A/N: Most of you wanted the snakes, but it was a tie between the two types so this happened.

 **I need names for both the snakes please.** Sorry, but I'm bad at naming things.


	22. Chapter 22

Kensuke hitches the duffle bag higher on his shoulder and takes the key out of his pocket to slot it into the lock of the school gym. It's barely light outside, far too early to be at school in the first place, but kendo takes a lot of practice and no one is allowed after hours so it has to be before.

He turns the key but frowns when nothing happens. He turns it the other way despite knowing for a fact that it would instead lock. He tries the door anyway and it holds still. He shrugs and turns it the other way again, unlocking the gym. Maybe the last person out yesterday forgot to lock it.

The double doors open with a soft clang of metal and Kensuke pockets the key as he steps inside, only to freeze when he sees someone already in. They're laid out on their side, facing away from the entrance Kensuke came through, and the signature black jacket and red armband are more than enough of an identifier.

The figure doesn't move and Kensuke starts backing away quietly, glad that he hasn't woken the Chairman.

He grimaces when a voice in his head screams at him that something is wrong.

Everyone knows that Kyouya is a light sleeper - that's the main reason people stay quiet around the Disciplinary Committee room and the stairwell to the roof; because Kyouya naps in those spots and is more likely to beat you up if he wakes unwillingly.

Something is definitely wrong. Kensuke should just leave and pretend he wasn't here.

His body disagrees and he finds himself dropping the duffel bag off his shoulder and kneeling over the Chairman to check for a pulse. It's there, but sluggish. Kensuke hovers a hand over Kyouya's nose and feels warm breath on his palm, but that's all he knows to check for.

There are no obvious injuries, and while Kensuke doesn't immediately dismiss internal ones, it should be rather blatant nonetheless. The Chairman's clothes don't look ruffled at all and there are no blood stains so maybe he wasn't in a fight.

"Hibari-san, you need to wake up," Kensuke says in a quiet voice, barely more than mouthing the words. He pauses and then has to force himself to say it a few times until his voice is at a normal level instead of a whisper. Despite his utter terror the Chairman still doesn't wake up.

He tries shaking the teen next but the body is completely limp and once again he checks for a pulse. It's there and it's steady and Mochida has no idea what's happening.

How the hell was someone able to take down Hibari Kyouya? Kensuke knows the other teen isn't immortal despite what rumour says, but Kyouya isn't anything close to weak either. It's as if Kensuke is seeing his favourite superhero get defeated by the villain no one likes and it's horrifying.

Kensuke looks back to the open door and sees a completely empty courtyard through it. No one would be here this early - Kensuke had to get special permission to practice. He takes a deep breath and lets it out. Then he turns back to the unconscious Chairman and slides a hand under his shoulders.

It takes a moment, but Kensuke soon has the Chairman in his arms, bracing Kyouya's back and thighs as a head of black hair rests on Kensuke's shoulder. It's the safest mode of transport as any other carries a risk of dropping the teen or of worsening any hidden injuries.

Kensuke stands and moves quickly but smoothly to not jolt the Chairman. He rushes across the courtyard and lets out a relieved breath when he turns the corner of the main building and sees a Disciplinary Committee member at the school gate.

"He needs help!" Kensuke calls over, hoping that it'll make them not attack straight away.

They glance over and immediately start running for Kensuke. The keno captain braces himself for impact but they skid to a stop, already barking information into a mobile phone. They pause speaking and listen as they reach out for Kyouya, but stop before they touch the Chairman's face, and frown.

"Come on," she snaps at Kensuke and starts for the gate, still listening to the phone. She hangs up right before they reach the entrance and turn back to Kensuke. "Where did you find him?"

"I-in the gym," Kensuke stutters. "Aren't you going to take him?" he blurts out.

The DC might be a girl smaller than Kyouya, but Kensuke is under no delusion that she can't bench press three of Kensuke.

She shakes her head firmly but looks regretful. "We don't know what took him out. It could be passed through touch so you'll have to keep him for now."

"Passed through touch?" Kensuke echoes, proudly not shrieking the question out despite his panic.

Just then, two cars pull up and DC pour out. They must have definitely broken a few traffic rules to get to the school that fast, not to mention the laws of physics. The girl takes half and leads them back into the school, presumably to check out the gym, while the other half stay in the cars.

Kusakabe Tetsuya himself steps out and gestures Kensuke inside, so of course the kendo captain goes.

The car he enters has a dark tinted glass separating the front and back with no one else inside. The door slams without anyone getting in after him either and the car starts moving.

Kensuke sits there with Hibari Kyouya in his lap, his heart trying to slam through his rib cage in protest. The car turns and Kensuke hugs the teen tighter to his chest involuntarily as if the Chairman was a stuffed toy, turning to press his face into surprisingly soft hair.

What the fuck did he get himself into?

The car stops sometime after and the DC usher him out and into the Namimori hospital, bypassing the front desk entirely and making their way into a room on the top floor. Kensuke notices vaguely how beautiful the view is outside of the large window, and how spacious the room is with a non-standard bed that looks more comfortable than a simple cot.

He's ordered to put the Chairman down, and as soon as the teen leaves his arms the events blur together. The next hour is spent in another room with doctors and nurses moving in and out as a steady stream.

Eventually he's released, which is good because that means he doesn't have whatever the Chairman does, but for some reason Kensuke is just numb. He vaguely remembers being told not to speak of the entire scenario, and then he's left at the school's front gate, just in time to make first class.

* * *

.

A/N: Poor Kensuke. Should have used Tsuna now that I think about it, but meh.


	23. Chapter 23

The Disciplinary Committee understand that it's a poison. It was actually coated in the cobra and viper, and as the snakes usually wind themselves around Kyouya or roll about in his hands, the toxin seeped into his skin.

It's discovered to be fast absorbed but slow acting, which means that only people in direct contact with either snake would be affected. To be safe, the roof, DC room and Kyouya's house are all disinfected by professionals.

Orochibari the viper and Luci the cobra are both coaxed into cages and sent to a veterinarian to be cleaned and checked for any health problems. They're both completely fine, which is a relief, and Tetsuya doesn't even care that Kyouya stole Orochibari (again).

There is nothing wrong with the Chairman per se. No trouble breathing, no fever, nothing. It's only that he won't wake up. The hospital staff are completely stumped and end up offering to call in a few specialists, but Tetsuya refuses and instead calls in someone else.

He keeps watch over the sleeping Chairman, waiting for the one who did this to appear and make demands, or for the teen to wake up.

The DC who enter always lock their sight onto Kyouya first before they do anything else, just to check that he's here with them, that the bed isn't empty because he took a turn for the worse. When they leave it's with a light touch to Kyouya's legs or arms, uselessly trying to reassure him that they're standing by.

Tetsuya thinks they're overreacting, because something like poison couldn't keep the Chairman down. He's rather hypocritical though, since he takes any opportunity to rest his hand on Kyouya's wrist and keep track of the Chairman's steady pulse.

* * *

The underground base is quiet except for the rapid clicking of a keyboard as the screen reflects off glasses and the intent eyes beneath. The sound stops and a sigh follows. "It's not designed to hurt him, I can tell you that much," Verde eventually says, leaning back from the monitor and glancing to Fon, tense at his side.

"That would be the good news then," the Storm murmurs, staring blankly at the screen full of information that reads like another language. "What's the bad news?"

"I can't wake him up," Verde shrugs. He rolls his eyes at the raised eyebrow from Fon. "I know how to of course, but I don't have all the materials."

"What do you need?" the martial artist demands. "I can get you anything."

"Do you have the maker's DNA?" Verde requests with a scoff.

Fon clenches his infant sized hands into fists and says nothing.

"It's called True Love's Kiss," Verde says to fill in the silence. "It was used mostly on hostages. The kidnappers would request a lower price than normal so the money would be passed over faster and with less hesitancy. However, when the exchanged happened the prisoner was still dead to the world. Another ransom is paid and the cure is passed over."

Fon tenses more, if that were possible.

"Have you made any enemies with scientists lately?" Verde drawls. "Because this is extremely hard to make perfect - bad copies usually kill within a day."

"Nothing leads back to Kyouya," Fon snaps and then visibly calms himself. "Only Viper level informants outside of close family know we're related, but no one who knows more would tell."

"How sure are you?" Verde contests. "Because it can't be your kid's enemy - this poison would be useless in that case."

"Tell me how it works," Fon says instead.

Verde huffs but he wasn't expecting an answer any way. "The only known version works through a liquid form and sets into the victim's body, shutting down higher functions. That's all it does - just keeps them from consciousness."

The green haired infant pushes up his glasses. "I said the antidote needed the maker's DNA, but it's more accurate to say that whoever is used as the cure, you _only_ need a portion of their DNA that the poison is coded to. Perhaps eye colour."

"I hate fairy tales," Fon admits conversationally.

"It works much like that, yes. Someone bites the poisoned apple and a passionate kiss brings them back. Or more specifically, the saliva is key to breaking down poison into simplified products that are non-harmful to the body."

Fon lets his head fall into raised hands. The air around him heats up and faint flickers of red seep off his shoulders.

"Did you know," Verde begins. "The original version of that story had the princess-"

"Yes, thank you Verde," Fon interrupts, sitting up straight as the Storm flames die down. "I really don't want to think about that while Kyouya is currently unconscious."

"At least he can't get pregnant like the story-"

"Verde, I swear to all that is holy-"

"Okay," the scientist sighs, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'll stop."

The conversation dies as Verde turns back to the dozens of screens set into the wall, directed precisely so he could see each one without moving. It's quiet for a moment and then –

"I could fake it," Verde says.

Fon's head snap to the scientist. "What do you mean by 'fake it'?"

"The cure," Verde explains further. "I could fake it if I had a large sample of the poison."

"You would be able to _create_ an entire human genome?" Fon says slowly, blatantly sceptical.

"If I had the lock, it's easy to create a key. Or to pick lock it in this case."

Fon smirks. "Of course. How could I forget how brilliant you are?"

Verde slants glance to the Storm. "However..."

Fon straightens up. "What do you want?"

"What do you have?" the Lightning replies simply, crossing his arms over his chest and peering up at the ceiling. "There is not much I can't get myself."

"I could start listing things, but that would take more time than I'd care to waste." Fon says, exasperated.

"You're a smart man," Verde hums, already turning back to the computer. "I'm sure you could bring me something. Now off you go, I have things to be doing."

Fon stares at Verde's profile, debating internally. Revealing it would grab attention, and despite the fact that he would protect Kyouya from Checker Face -even if he had to burn entire continents in the process- he'd rather not have it come to that.

"I have the cure," Fon says.

Verde glances over even as he doesn't stop typing. "If you had the cure you wouldn't be here asking for my expertise," he drags out as if Fon was three and a particularly slow learner.

"No," Fon drawls, copying Verde's tone exactly. "I have _the cure_."

The click of keys stops abruptly and Verde turns completely to face Fon. "No you don't," he whispers. "I don't, so there is no way that you synthesised one." His eyes narrow. "Unless you made a deal with that man."

Fon shakes his head. "I found something. Or, more precisely, something was handed to me."

"Then why are you small?" Verde argues.

"I didn't want to show anyone," Fon replies. "And it works off flames, so there are short breaks in between as I recharge."

"Show me," Verde orders, and suddenly the monitors all turn to face Fon on some unseen command, the hidden cameras around the room projecting every minuscule movement of the Storm's onto the dozen screens.

Fon ignores the horror movie set and mentally calls out the command. Activate Arcobaleno Antidote.

Verde's eyes widen as Fon blurs and reforms into an adult version, dwarfing the child sized chair and making him hunch slightly to not hit the roof.

Fon smiles at the scientist's dropped jaw and moves off the chair to sit cross-legged on the floor so he could sit straight. "You'll have to re-fix your labs," the Storm says into the stunned quiet.

"Only the three main ones are child-sized," Verde replies automatically, mind more focused on decoding the source of Fon's growth. He had expected a machine of some sort or a serum at the very least. Then he blinks and snaps back to himself. "I want that."

"Do you?" Fon hums with a serene smile. "Are you sure? I could start listing things-"

"Yes, Fon, you bastard," Verde grumbles. "Get me a large sample of blood and I'll save your kid."

"And I'll give you the secret when Kyouya is awake."


	24. Chapter 24

Verde watches the screen as Fon slips out of the front door to the lab and disappears into the distance. He lets out a sigh and slumps.

Verde has been observing the Storm ever since he caught sight of the adult version through one of his robots. It was pure chance he saw - the robot was flying around to test the newest propulsion system and Verde was bored enough to be watching the robot's camera.

He honestly doesn't care about being adult sized, he can work on his experiments as a child or adult or senior. He just wants to know how Fon does it, how the Storm managed to take control over such an impossible thing to reach as aging.

Verde's curiosity is a gluttonous thing, demanding to be fed constantly, and it's so hard to ignore something screaming in the back of your head. So he lets his curiosity gorge itself on the secrets and puzzles of the universe, and Verde just hopes he won't run out of mysteries.

Or that his curiosity will get him kill him one day.

To be honest, the entire plan is risky. Verde might be in his base but Fon is a beast when he wants to be. It's a tricky rope to walk, and rash too, explicitly telling Fon exactly what's happening - that the boy is a hostage and Fon would have to pay ransom.

Verde smirks. He even asked if Fon had any scientists in mind as the cause.

Well, now he just has to wait a while and pretend to create the cure before finally being able to appease the monster in his head.

* * *

"Fon," Tetsuya greets with a quiet relief, standing politely from the chair beside Kyouya's bed.

Fon waves the teenager down again with a smile as he comes to a stop at the bedside. "It's good to see you again, Tetsuya. Perhaps next time it won't involve Kyouya's more troublesome antics."

"I can only dream, sir," is Tetsuya's dry response. He snaps back into his professional behaviour after and sets steady eyes on the small pouch Fon holds with a tight grip. "Is that the treatment?"

Fon nods, pulling a needle from the bag. It's small and unassuming. Tetsuya tenses when the needle cap is taken off and Fon presses down on the plunger to take out any air bubbles.

It's rather anticlimactic, when Fon injects it into the IV drip, and even more so when the Chairman doesn't wake up.

"Leave it for an hour," Fon murmurs, packing the emptied needle away.

Tetsuya is the only one in the DC to know of Fon before the China trip, of the infant relative, a carnivorous man who takes joy in acting like an herbivore.

After the sudden adoption, the rest of the Disciplinary Committee have been cautioned about Fon's presence in the more shadowed parts of the world, and instructed to go to Fon for assistance if Kyouya is ever unavailable due to one of the man's opponents.

So Kyouya acknowledges the danger Fon brings, and expects the man to get a job done. Therefore Tetsuya will respond in kind and trust Fon.

"Did you know Hibari-san when he was still in his detective phase?" Tetsuya asks.

Fon blinks and then chuckles, his shoulders relaxing. "When he took over that police building?"

"No, I mean when he started kidnapping detectives." Tetsuya laughs at Fon's wide eyed look.

* * *

It takes a little less than an hour for Kyouya to first show signs of waking and the two immediately stop talking and track his progress. Kyouya's fingers curl and dig into the bedding as his eyelids flutter and open slowly, sliver skimming over Fon and locking onto Tetsuya.

"It's been three days, Chairman," Tetsuya responds to the silent question even as he fills a plastic cup with water from the jug on a side table and passes it over.

Kyouya starts to sit up, but Fon is quicker. The man darts forward and places a hand on the teen's shoulder to keep him down, before making the top half of the bed rise to an incline. Kyouya rolls his eyes but stays relaxed against the bed as he takes the cup to sip. His eyes find Fon and he stares.

"I may or may not have caused this," Fon says with a bland smile. "I apologise, and I'll take care of the person who poisoned you."

"What do they want?" Kyouya asks, his voice a little hoarse from the three day sleep.

"His adult body," Fon answers. "He's an Arcobaleno too, which means he's also an infant. He doesn't know it's linked to your screens, he only targeted you because of me."

"I'll add him," Kyouya murmurs. "That way you can kill him, but he'll still be useful after." His eyes narrow and pin Fon. "But before that, you will tell me about your other herbivores. I will be prepared for next time."

* * *

Verde sucks in a breath, eyes snapping open, and scrambles to his feet. He immediately finds Fon, perched on a chair and sipping tea. Verde throws himself backwards until his back hits the wall and he could reach the security panel.

His fingers find the square but the code doesn't register. Maybe it's because of how much blood Verde is covered in –his lab coat now dyed crimson- but most likely it's because the Storm disabled the security while Verde was-

Dead.

"What just happened?" Verde murmurs.

He's still on guard because no matter how relaxed Fon looks, the other man could go from Good Samaritan to homicidal in 0.32 seconds. He gazes around the laboratory, one of the less used ones so it's adult sized (like Verde!) but the technology is less than perfect and therefore able to be tampered with.

The small living room set up is splattered with blood and Verde's many needles containing incredibly toxic substances litter the floor, most of them unbroken because even fumes could take down an opponent. Fon had ripped them out of Verde's hands almost as soon as the scientist could take one out.

He had been surprised when the martial artist showed up at one of his more hidden bases, told him that Verde couldn't hide from the map, and counted down to zero. A lightly opaque blue screen appeared and Fon coaxed him to tapping yes. The Storm even waited until Verde found the Arcobaleno cure and turned in an adult.

Then Fon killed him.

"I would like for you to apologise to Kyouya," Fon states with a smile, placing his cup down on the table nearby and folding his hands neatly on his lap.

"I'm the only one that was hurt in this situation!" Verde blurts out, incredulous. It's not like Verde was the one who took delight in burning someone from the inside out, literally. His hand rests carefully on his abdomen and a few expert prods reveales no damage, either internal or external.

"And I'm sorry for that," Fon says easily, clearly not genuine. "I got carried away, because my child was poisoned, and you were making comments about necrophiliac princes."

"Get out," Verde orders.

Fon's smile widens but he stands obligingly. "If Kyouya needs anything, he'll get in contact with you."

Verde didn't move a centimetre until the door closes with a quiet click. He lets himself slide down the wall and ends up sitting on the ground, peering around at his destroyed living room.

He should be angry, at the very least, but he's too caught up in how far he could push those curious screens.


	25. Chapter 25

In truth, Takeshi only finds out about Kyouya the day he wakes up, and only because the baseballer overhears two Disciplinary Committee commenting on it in hushed whispers around the corner from Takeshi. The baseballer wasn't spying on them, honest, but even if he was it would be understandable since he's been trying to find Kyouya for three days.

It's a bit of a scramble to get Ryohei and hurry to the hospital before closing time but they make it, the boxer bringing along Kyoko because the siblings were out trying cakes at the time Takeshi ran up to them. They head to the front desk and immediately get chased away by a stern nurse, the man muttering about nosy kids.

The three of them cluster near the corner of the waiting room, half hidden behind a rack of 'Get Well Soon' cards in front of the gift shop. They're half way through discussing the pros of kidnapping a DC and getting them to say which room Kyouya is in when a man walks by and heads for the small café. He has silver eyes, a predator's grace and very familiar features.

"Sir!" Takeshi cries, hurrying after the man. "Sir, are you Kyouya's new guardian?"

The man freezes and turns slowly, an odd expression on his face. Something like bemusement and wonder. "I… yes, I am Kyouya's guardian. May I help you?"

Ryohei and Kyoko slide up behind Takeshi and the three grin sweetly up at the adult. Fon reads their names and levels, in black instead of Fon's red since the teenagers haven't unlocked their flames. Their levels are higher than the usual teenager but they live in Namimori so he's hesitant to link them to organised crime.

"We're Kyouya's friends," Ryohei proclaims happily.

"Well, not exactly," Takeshi laughs. "He's never said that, he just calls us herbivores, but that's his way of showing affection!"

"Like when he hits us," Ryohei chimes in. "Or makes that sarcastic 'wao' sound when he's being mocking."

"That's sarcastic?" Takeshi blurts out in shock and disappointment, turning to Ryohei. "But he does that every time I get a judo throw correct."

"He's teaching you?" Fon asks. He knows they're fighters of course, that's easy to spot, but he didn't think they were close to Kyouya since they don't have the DC red armband. It explains the higher than average levels though, and he wonders if the map will show them as participating in the Hunt. "Well, I could bring you up to his room if you wanted."

"Yes please," Kyoko says. "My brother has been worried about Hibari-san."

Fon collects two cups of tea from the café and even buys the three of them soft drinks before they all make their way up to Kyouya's room. Fon steps in first and moves over to give the patient one of the styrofoam cups. No one else is in the room since Tetsuya went back to Namimori middle to keep the peace.

Kyouya catches sight of them and rolls his eyes.

"Kyo-chan!" Takeshi greets cheerfully and trots up to the bedside, flopping over the Chairman in a hug. Takeshi gets hot tea splashed in his face.

* * *

When Kyouya gets out of hospital his Disciplinary Committee are unbearably annoying. They hover like fretful herbivores and constantly ask if he's feeling okay. Within the first three hours of his release from hospital, no less than thirteen of them have walked up to Kyouya and pressed their foreheads against his to check for fever.

Kyouya finally tells them to back off via liberal use of blunt force trauma when one of them actually picks him up and carries him up a set of stairs. The pompadours settle down then but they still revolve around him, not enough to be noisy and just out of crowding range, but obvious enough that Kyouya knows he only has to call for them if he wants anything.

Even the boxer's sister takes great joy in collaborating with the pompadours and presenting Kyouya with food. It's delicious but Kyouya is perfectly capable of making his own lunch, so it's not at all necessary, just like Fon's hovering - although the man thankfully leaves soon, having filled up his monthly quota of parental duty.

The worrying is completely ridiculous because Kyouya is not a delicate being and he wasn't even injured, just put to sleep.

Kyouya needs a distraction.

* * *

Kensuke is walking down an empty hallway of Namimori middle, heading back to class after handing a stack of papers to the staff room. If this was a movie, the sky would be dark with stormy weather and the music would be building to a crescendo.

Unfortunately for Kensuke his life is not a movie. The weather is warm and slightly cloudy, the halls silent except for his footsteps and the faint murmurs of teachers when he passes the many classrooms still in session.

This means Kensuke has no warning at all when he turns the corner and finds Kyouya standing not two meters away from him. The kendo captain startles violently enough to make himself stumble backwards but he stops before instincts make him raise his hands in defence like Kyouya would just lunge for his carotid artery.

"I didn't tell anyone about you!" Kensuke blurts out.

Kyouya steps closer and tilts his head to the side as if a new angle would tell him more.

"I mean… I'm glad you're okay now?" Kensuke sounds out slowly.

"Mochida Kensuke," Kyouya says, rolling the name around his tongue. "Kendo captain, made it to nationals for Japan three times, repeated detentions, heavy contact with the Disciplinary Committee, one major incident away from expulsion. _Troublemaker_."

Kensuke tenses at the tone on the last one and takes an involuntary step back. Kyouya follows and soon enough the Chairman has him cornered against the wall.

"Why would you go out of your way to call for help?" Kyouya asks.

Kensuke straightens and sets his feet in preparation for a fight. "I go to the gym every morning. If I didn't get you to someone, the DC would have known."

Kyouya narrows his eyes. "I hear lies, herbivore. Would you like to try again?"

"What do you want to hear?" Kensuke snaps. "That I was worried about you?" he scoffs as if the very notion is ridiculous. "That I moved before I thought about it?"

"That's very kind of you," Kyouya hums. "But what I wanted to hear was that you did it for a reward."

Kensuke blinks.

"You've never quite made it to the winners circle, have you?" Kyouya murmurs. "You're good but not good enough, and so you cheat and lie and you're so close to just giving up, aren't you?"

Kensuke grits his teeth and shoves Kyouya away from him. "What do you want, Hibari?"

Kyouya rocks back with the shove and then pitches forward, slamming Kensuke back into the wall hard enough that the herbivore gasps in pain and the wall trembles. Kyouya makes a mental note to get it fixed, not seeing the cracks but very certain they're present.

"Let's make a bet," Kyouya offers with all the force of a command, his fingers digging into Kensuke's shoulders. "I get you first place in nationals and you train my herbivores."

Kensuke lets his head fall back against the wall and laughs without any true amusement. "What, are you going to threaten the judges?"

Kyouya pulls back and steps away. "I don't resort to cheating like you, herbivore. You'll win with the rules or you'll die trying."

"This isn't a simple matter," Kensuke sneers. "My opponents are the best in the nation, not a bunch of street punks like your prey."

Kyouya huffs out a laugh. "Herbivore, I've won the world championships for tonfa six years in a row. I think I can deal with nationals even if I have someone like you as a conduit."

Kensuke narrows his eyes but he can easily see Kyouya competing just so the Chairman can fight people. "Why do you need me to train someone? I've had tutors, why don't you just find one of them?"

"Adults tend to… cause more disturbances than a peer of the same age group," Kyouya explains. "As for why; there are a few people I have who show promise in swordsmanship, but that is not an area of expertise that I can claim," Kyouya admits. "Yet."

"Say it isn't so," Kensuke drawls in sarcastic shock. "So what do I get when you fail?"

Kyouya just raises and eyebrow.

"Deal," Kensuke eventually grits out.

* * *

.

A/N: I'm planning as I go so Mochida kind of crept in somehow and I don't know where I'm going with this.

That's a lie, I'm not planning at all.

Do you guys even like Mochida? If you do I can include him but if you'd rather not I can push this facet to the background.


	26. Chapter 26

The fact is, the feeding isn't a onetime thing. Kyouya keeps getting the lunch boxes from his Disciplinary Committee and that Sasagawa girl. It's delicious, that's fine. However, Kyouya sees her around the middle school and finds that herbivores have been steering clear of the brunette, cautious since she can found talking to and staying around Kyouya's DC.

He corners the loud one and hands over a pouch full of Miasma bombs and Amrack skulls, a tag reading _'Kyoko'_ in neat script attached to the silver zipper. He watches through the Disciplinary room window as the girl receives her present and even sets one off accidentally.

Kyouya thought he was rather obvious with his intentions, yet when he finds her in the hall during lunch time, she seems surprised at his attack. She doesn't even fight back and instead goes still as he slams her into the wall, a tonfa at the girl's throat.

"I gave you a weapon. I expect it to be used," Kyouya berates, pushing down on her collar bones with cold metal.

Kyoko shivers, her eyes wide and heartbeat racing. Kyouya backs up, disappointed.

"Don't bother me anymore," he commands, not unkindly. "I don't tolerate weaklings."

He leaves, Kyoko still quiet.

* * *

"I don't understand," Kyoko murmurs, lying on her bed with Ryohei beside her.

The two are decked out in shorts and singlets as they rest on top of the sheets while a fan in the corner struggles pathetically against the heat. A large chunk of ice sits in a tub right before the fan so the air blows is actually cold instead of just being pushed around.

"Why would he want me to fight him?" Kyoko continues. "Obviously I'm not capable, I don't take any sports and I've never shown an interest."

"He wasn't trying to hurt you," Ryohei reassures, linking fingers with her delicate hand despite the fact that they'll both get sweaty. "And if he wanted an extreme fight, he has other means. I think… don't get mad, okay?"

Kyoko turns to face him with a concerned frown but doesn't interrupt.

"You remember how I said I extremely tripped down the stairs?" Ryohei hedges.

"When you ended up in hospital," Kyoko says with a nod. She pauses then. "You mean it wasn't the stairs?"

Ryohei takes sudden interest in examining the ceiling, eyes flicking in between the glow in the dark stars stuck there. "Well, I did fall down the stairs… after I was in an extreme battle."

She just stares, blank faced.

Ryohei cringes but keeps going. "The fight started because some people heard me saying I was Hibari's extreme friend, and they thought I was a weak point in his guard."

Kyoko grips Ryohei's hand tighter in concern.

"It was an extreme fight, I enjoyed it," Ryohei quickly reassures her. "But some students have asked me why you're seen with the Disciplinary Committee, and while I'm certain that no one will ever hurt you, I think Hibari just wants to know that you can defend yourself if needed."

She picks this apart in her mind, and it does make sense even though she's highly sceptical of anyone trying to hurt her. Then again, Kyouya has some odd friends in the Committee.

Ryohei turns to face his sister. "I kind of agree, actually." He then backpedals in a panic. "Not that you should fight anyone, ever. _Ever_. But it would be extremely reassuring to know that you can handle a situation."

She nods slowly. "I get where you're coming from but I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You don't have to, since you won't be learning to attack," Ryohei coaxes. "It'll be about extremely protecting yourself and making an opening for you to run away."

"If it's just that," Kyoko hums. "I'll ask him tomorrow."

Ryohei makes a face. "Asking won't work on an extreme man like that."

She raises an eyebrow.

"We need Hana."

* * *

The next day Kyoko arrives at the Committee room's door, shoulders back with a determined expression on.

"Leave, herbivore."

She flinches at the apathetic tone. "Fight me," she says quietly.

Kyouya glances up and goes back to paperwork. "You've had your chance."

She bites her lip and then pulls out a detonator. She hunches her shoulders and squeezes her eyes shut.

He looks up then, curious.

When she presses the button, his office shatters from the two dozen Amrak skull she meticulously placed beforehand with Hana and Ryohei. The pouch she was given is a lot bigger than it seems.

Kyoko is grabbed around the waist and both of them slam into the couch back, the entire thing flipping over and covering them before any of the Amrack skulls get to them. Kyouya is left hovering over her, braced on his elbows as a second layer of defence, covering the small animal from the kamikaze attack.

Most of the shrapnel goes over head and the rest are stopped by the couch. When the noise dies down Kyoko opens her eyes.

"You know how to make an impact," Kyouya mutters, bemused as he looks down at the girl.

She hesitantly smiles but Kyouya frowns.

"You may not be weak but you're pretty damn stupid," he says. "You had no way of knowing that I would help you."

"I knew," Kyoko says, her voice even like it was a fact that Kyouya would protect her.

He pushes up onto his knees, lifting one side of the couch over his head so it thuds back into place on all fours. He stands and holds out a hand to her. "We'll have to work on getting rid of that blind trust nonsense."

* * *

Hana stares down the demon of Namimori and shakes her head. "No. I am not getting caught up in this madness. I helped because Kyoko asked, not because I wanted to challenge you like those other monkeys."

Kyouya slides a slow glance down her body and then back up, his mind listing strengths and weak points.

"Pity," is all he says before passing her and continuing down the hall.

* * *

.

A/N: I had completely forgotten this story to the point that I needed to re-read it. That tells me I should have updated sooner, sorry.


	27. Chapter 27

"Hibari-san," Tetsuya sighs in fond exasperation.

Kyouya blinks and looks around but no one is in the living room with him. He then slides his phone out of his pocket and peers down at it. He has no idea who keeps changing his ring tone and notification sound but he's pretty sure it's either Pompadour 28 or Pompadour 13.

He reminds himself to set up surveillance later and unlocks his phone, tapping through to the emails and then waiting for the files to download.

There are five profiles laid out, starting with name, age and a portrait picture. Then it goes on to list background and personality before describing skills and rounding off with a health report and a full body image.

Kyouya flicks between the five and hums to himself.

The first is a beautiful lady with a coy smile, draped in fine silks and glimmering gold. Kyouya can't guess her age no matter how hard he tries and the profile only offers estimates ranging in the twenties, which speaks about her ability to get into the system and change her own information.

The rest is high praise for her talents and lists a body count that makes Kyouya raise an eyebrow. Her mastery over that many weapons seems impressive too, but Kyouya is keeping in mind that the woman has access to the profile.

The second is also a woman, at around her early thirties. The signs of drug abuse are covered with makeup and a vacant smile but Kyouya knows the track marks will be present simply because that's the standard practice. This one is tamed and by the clothes they wear it's not hard to guess how they make a profit.

The third is a middle-aged woman with a blank face, a sure sign of trauma, but there's a glint of something as she stares directly at someone behind the camera. Her history lists a PhD in psychology, and Kyouya knows she's in the list because it might just interest him at how strange the scenario will be. She's not quite new, yet not quite broken.

The fourth is a man, tall and broad with scars that speak of mutual fighting. The feral snarl on his face echoes that as does the background listing violence and a trail of bodies. This one is a fighter in the most literal sense with a lot of experience in the more brutal fight clubs. He's not conditioned to be submissive and he's not going to be, which points towards a love for what he does instead of threats keeping him there.

The final one is another male, three years older than Kyouya himself. This teenager gazes at the camera with a smirk to his lips and a fire in his eyes. The history reports him born into it, with a specialisation in guarding rich kids where adults normally can't – or perhaps as a secret defence when the children get bratty and reject obvious guards.

He's good, for the profile at least, but Kyouya can spot a few cracks. Kyouya guesses orphan, attitude problem, enough arrogance to turn stupid, and the Chairman is certain that he'll be correct on every point.

The only thing these five have in common are the black hair, white skin and dark red lips.

A text makes the phone murmur his name and Kyouya rolls his eyes at the message.

* * *

 _Have you decided?_

 _These words mean nothing to me._

 _I'll have them at your door within the day._

 _This does not mean I accept._

 _I wouldn't expect you to without trying the items first._

 _1 and 5._

 _Of course._

* * *

The assassin raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "And what, specifically, do you need a teacher for?"

"Poison was listed as a favourite of yours," Kyouya states. "A few of my herbivores have taken an interest in the style."

She smiles, sugary sweet and condescending. "Listen, darling, I'm an assassin. I don't teach, no matter how much you're offering, so how about you go find your mummy or daddy so I can finish this job and get back to Paris."

Kyouya rolls his eyes. "Either you teach my herbivores, or I break your legs and send you back – the legs are for no particular reason, I just like the crunch they make."

The woman's smile falls away and she stands. "Don't threaten me, you little brat. I kill people three times your size for breakfast."

Kyouya frowns in annoyance, but he did promise broken legs.

* * *

"Hey there," the assassin coos to the silent and still figures of the Disciplinary Committee. "I work with poisons, and I'll be your new teacher."

The pompadours politely ignore the deep scratches on the woman's legs, easily identified as spikes from Kyouya's tonfa.

"First lesson," the assassin hums sadistically. "Immunity is a must."

The Disciplinary Committee only smile.

* * *

Kyouya stares the boy down and says nothing. It would be good to have a greater variety in his army, especially an already trained herbivore.

The teen shifts forwards with a sly smile and cocks his head. "So you're my new master?" he hums with eyes half lidded in pleasure at what he was seeing. "For you, babe, I can be more than a bodyguard."

"Don't try anything," Ren interrupts, stepping into the room. "He would destroy you."

The bodyguard blinks and then he throws back his head and laughs. "What? A sweet thing like him?"

"Actually, I meant Tetsuya would destroy you," Ren explains. "Hibari here has only one setting, firmly placed on 'annihilate'."

The other male shakes his head with a wide grin. "I highly doubt it. I was born to fight-"

A scoff filled with so much derision it was shocking leaves Ren. "Yeah, okay, and I was born to bake. It doesn't matter if you popped out of your mum with a sub machine gun-"

A tonfa is flung across the room and slams into the newly conscripted male's chest, making the bodyguard hunch and shudder as his lungs refuse to work properly.

"Herbivore," Kyouya speaks up now that the distraction is gone. "What happened?"

"Oh, right," Ren mutters, just remembering that he came in for a reason. "Um, that assassin lady is refusing to come out of her hotel room. Something about not throwing the Sarin around?"

* * *

.

A/N: Poor Fon is trying.


	28. Chapter 28: Mini-Game

[Mini-game start! Objective: Kill the King]

Kyouya pauses mid-step as the screen pops up in front of him and automatically reaches out to catch the handgun that falls from thin air.

The world blurs before snapping back into focus, if a bit too glossy. The people around him have disappeared and the houses have lost texture like someone built them with large blocks. Even the concrete path underneath him has become a plain, smooth grey with no other high-lights or low-lights.

It's an entirely fake Namimori.

Kyouya takes a deep breath and just accepts it. Stranger things have happened. He calls up the map and frowns when he sees a mass of enemies congregating around his school with a few more scattered around the town.

A few dots signifying allies are moving quickly to the school as well and Kyouya approves of the Committee's instant response. He calls up the group chat and sees that everyone has the objective 'Kill the King'. More information pours in, about the school being infested with zombies and that the map is only as big as Namimori.

"Purge the herbivores," Kyouya commands and his words appear in the chat.

It's immediately followed by cheery answers and too many emojis. Kyouya closes the window and takes another glance at the map. There's one ally dot moving further away before pausing, and one other that's fast approaching Kyouya's direction, cutting over residences like it's open ground.

He turns and heads for that second ally, unsure if he simply underestimated the top speed of one of his pompadours. He darts up to a house, bounces off the wall around it, and lands on the rooftop before launching himself to the next house over.

They meet in the middle, landing on the roof almost at the same time. Fon looks quite content to be abruptly transported to Japan and told to kill things.

"I assume everyone participating in the Hunt is now playing the mini-game," Fon says with a smile. "Just like everyone can see your group chat. How is Orochibari and Luci?"

"Get out of my Namimori," Kyouya deadpans, already reaching out to flick through his menu.

Fon frowns jokingly as his name is thrown from the group chat list, along with Verde. "I wonder if Verde is wandering around here as well…"

Kyouya doesn't respond, turning and making his way across houses to the school with Fon following behind. He deviates from the path slightly when the stationary dot is only a few streets over, and they both drop to the street.

Verde is slowly using a scalpel to take apart a twitching almost-human, the creature pinned to the ground with the stand of a letterbox through its chest. Already, the scientist has an arm laying besides him, the bone structure laid out beside the muscles with thin slices of skin and nails on the other side. Further away is an abandoned handgun, the same model as Kyouya's.

"How did you keep the scalpel?" Fon asks. "Everything in my pockets vanished and I can't access the inventory."

"I was holding it," Verde says. "Now go, you're disturbing my work. I have to figure this out in case it disappears when I return to my lab."

Kyouya, on the other hand, jolts and shoves the handgun at Fon, trying to call his tonfa into existence. Nothing happens and Kyouya reminds himself to never trust the system with his precious tonfa ever again. He huffs in annoyance and stalks away.

A vague mumble comes from the scientist currently breaking ribs out of the way to reach the lungs.

* * *

Kyouya reaches the school first and Fon arrives moments later, flipping the gun between his hands and trying to get used to it.

The school has a strange growth coming from it, mostly near the Disciplinary Committee room. It's a dark grey flesh and strange, bulging veins run through it, throbbing a dark green like there was a heart pumping blood somewhere in the building.

Across the surface of the grey area, dozens of zombies are pressing outwards, almost detached. As they watch, a zombie breaks out from the infection and falls to the ground, splattering from the height then struggling to its feet.

A bullet from a nearby Disciplinary Committee member takes it out.

The school has a perimeter of pompadours around it and the first-floor windows show flashes of zombies being killed. In a cluster outside are pompadours laid out on the ground with wounds bloodying their clothes. Kyouya gets nods as he nears the make-shift clinic.

"They're not injured," Ren says when Kyouya gets close enough. "There's no pain, they just move really slowly now. Like 'slower that a sloth' kind of movements." A smirk tugs at his lips. "It's really funny when they try to talk."

Kyouya rolls his eyes and heads for the building now, intent on finishing the objective quickly. The entrances are full with pompadours meticulously cleaning out the infestation, most of them splattered in black from the zombies' blood, or dark green from injuring the weird flesh.

Kyouya avoids those passages, unwilling to get stuck with wave after wave of zombies. Instead, he starts climbing the side of the building.

Halfway up, the grey flesh clings to the building's wall. Kyouya grimaces in disgust but climbs onto it anyway. It feels slimy and rough and if Kyouya loved his school any less, he'd go and take a nap while the pompadours cleaned it out.

A couple of half formed zombies try to claw at him but the Committee below take them out with precision. Kyouya pauses in confusion when he encounters a butcher's knife, lodged hilt deep in the grey substance.

Either someone was cooking dinner when they arrived in the game, or one of Kyouya's pompadours is a serial killer. He shrugs and yanks out the knife to use on the infection.

Fon climbs to Kyouya's height and holds out a hand, the gun tucked into his pants. "Here, pass it over and tell me where the window is."

Kyouya debates stabbing Fon in the shoulder to make him drop down, but Kyouya doesn't want to get dirty when he cuts into the grey substance. He hands it over and Fon starts hacking into the infection with precise strokes.

It heals very fast so when Fon pulls away and nods to him, Kyouya immediately crawls through the gap, thankful that the window was open so he didn't need to destroy Nami-chuu property. Unfortunately, the grey is too thick for Fon to cut through entirely so Kyouya needs to push at it with his hands.

The inside of the flesh is gooey and viscous. He wriggles through the opening awkwardly and falls from the gap when he breaks through the other side, tumbling to the fleshy floor in the most uncoordinated he's been since he could first walk. The entire room is covered in the substance.

He grimaces in absolute disgust at the webs of stringy sludge that cling to his form and the way his clothes are now covered in green blood. He pushes himself up onto his forearms and pristine black leather shoes step into his vision.

Kyouya follows the suit pants up to a white shirt and dark red vest. Hair like the night sky frames high cheekbones, full lips and completely black eyes. The man smiles with an insincere edge and a hand drops down in invitation.

"Who are you?" Kyouya demands as he takes the hand.

He pulls Kyouya up to his feet and then even closer. "It's lovely to meet you," the man greets as he presses his lips to the teenagers knuckles, his eyes glinting with amusement. "You can call me King," he whispers like a childish secret.

Before Kyouya can introduce himself as 'God', a bullet slams into the man's forehead and he pitches backwards, collapsing to the pulsing grey floor. Kyouya whips around to see Fon struggling through the flesh that covers the window, a gun in his hand.

"Why did you do that?" Kyouya grumbles. "I was just about to fight the boss level."

Fon huffs in disgust as he finally drops to the ground, covered in gore. "My sincerest apologies," he drawls, clearly not sincere. "But he was far too close to you and practically seeping bad intentions." He plants one hand on his hip and waves the gun around. "Do you even know what 'stranger danger' means?"

"Do you know what 'kill stealing' means?" Kyouya retorts.

A shift catches their attention and they look to the man sprawled on the floor. King smoothly rises to his feet and wipes away the blood on his forehead, revealing uninjured skin. He calmly turns to the side and spits out the bullet before curling his mouth into an empty smile.

"Don't worry," King hums in a condescending manner to Fon. "You'll get a participation award at the very least," he chuckles.

Kyouya snickers as well, much to Fon's irritation.

"Listen," Fon begins. "The objective was 'Kill the King' and unless you simply have delusions of grandeur and there's actual royalty hiding around here, the mission is now over. How do we get out of the mini-game?"

King shakes his head in exaggerated sorrow. "Oh, poor thing," he sighs. "I'm the boss monster for a hoard of zombies. If you're surprised I came back to life, you need to sit down and rethink your plan."

Fon, not one for dragging things out, immediately steps forward, forgetting he's holding a gun and going straight for the martial arts route. Before he can move further, his attention is soon taken up by the strings of green suddenly spat out by the grey infection behind him.

King scowls. "Besides, you really pissed me off with that bullet, little red."

Fon tries to twist out but it's like tar and clings with desperation. It jerks suddenly and slams him back against the wall, the substance quick to crawl over him and try to engulf the martial artist.

Kyouya calmly ignores the struggling from the man, instead focusing entirely on the King. "Now that the interruption is gone…"

"We can get down to business," King finishes for Kyouya. "Would you like a quick ending or a slow one?"

"I'll bite you to death," Kyouya declares imperiously, falling into a ready stance despite the loss of his tonfa.

"That's my line," King chuckles.

* * *

Kyouya answers the phone absentmindedly. There's only silence on the other end and he checks that the call is still connected. "Hello?" Kyouya asks.

"I was eaten," Fon deadpans.

"I was thinking 'absorbed' more than anything," Kyouya admits. "You got out eventually. And interrupted my fight, again, because that seems to be your thing now."

Fon sighs. "I will not apologise for kicking us out of the game."

"Then apologise for _burning down my school_ ," Kyouya snaps.

"It's not really my fault," Fon argues. "How was I supposed to know that grey thing was incredibly flammable?"

Kyouya hangs up.

* * *

.

A/N: In commemoration of not only Gamer hitting over 200 reviews, but Bite To Death as well, I've decided on a zombie theme. It's a bit short, but blame that on the 'mini' part of mini-game.

If I can manage, a mini-game will happen every hundred reviews, but I also might forget or simply never reach 300.


	29. Chapter 29

"I've been meaning to ask," Takeshi begins.

"Don't," Kyouya deadpans. He takes one more look at the map and then tucks it away, leading the two herbivores around a left turn in the shopping centre, tracking down the newest Patrol.

Takeshi keeps speaking anyway. "Those new people I see hanging around, the woman and the other teenager, did you…"

"I didn't buy the slaves," Kyouya explains, pausing in front of a lift and pressing the button to go down. "Fon did."

Kyouya hasn't accepted either of the two herbivores as a 'Snow White' but he's now responsible for them until the contract is over and they go back to the company to get sold again. He might even buy them completely if he likes them enough.

"Are they actually slaves?" Ryohei blurts out, not bothering to lower his voice even when other herbivores come to a stop beside the three teens to wait for the lift. "That's not okay, is it? Slavery isn't a good thing?"

Kyouya briefly wonders what would happen if he says that slavery is perfectly acceptable, but decides that it would be too much trouble to correct later on. "They are for hire and a human trafficking company technically… takes care of them, so yes they are considered slaves, and no it's not a good business venture; too unstable."

"Why do you have them?" Takeshi continues, not pointing out that Ryohei was referring to ethics and not business.

Kyouya shrugs but says nothing as the lift arrives and they all step inside. He's not quite sure how to explain the deal he made with Fon. It's a challenge but also a negotiation or perhaps a reward – difficult to describe unless he tells the whole story.

The elevator opens a few times, letting people off, but Kyouya waits until they reach the lowest level possible. It's a short hallway with one glass door leading out to an almost empty underground parking lot. The only other door leads to a stairwell and the last has a padlock with a 'STAFF ONLY' sign attached. The numbers underneath read: 28 (4).

Kyouya sighs because the map shows the Patrol difficulty but it doesn't give the minimum amount of people necessary to enter so this setback does happen occasionally. He calls up the map and scans the surroundings for a pompadour to use.

The stairwell door opens then and some brunet tumbles out, panicked and breathing hard. He's Takeshi's age and looks haggard and rumpled. The herbivore takes a few running steps towards the three teenagers, looking behind him for a chaser, but when he does catch sight of Kyouya he squeaks loudly and trips over to fall flat on his face.

It's actually a very mild reaction to the Disciplinary Committee Chairman.

"Are you doing extreme exercises?" Ryohei asks, getting pumped up for some stair drills.

Takeshi laughs in a friendly manner, reaching up with his hands to rest them on his head, fingers laced together. "I think I've seen you before. Are you in my class?"

"Uh, yeah, that – no, maybe. I'm not…" the brunet stutters out, trying to answer both questions at once as he stands shakily. His eyes flicker from a relaxed Takeshi to a curious Ryohei to a blank faced Kyouya.

The stairwell door opens again, banging loudly as it slams against the wall, and five herbivores rush into the small hallway.

They look the same age as Takeshi as well, and despite not being in school uniform they clearly go to Namimori middle; as proven by the screams of horror when they see Kyouya. The herbivores spin around frantically and pour back through the door, their footsteps quickly getting fainter as they sprint up the steps.

If anything, the brunet looks betrayed by their fleeing, and slowly backs away from Kyouya. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here. I'll just go?" his voice tilts upwards a few octaves as if asking for Kyouya's permission.

The brunet kind of reminds Kyouya of a bunny. A really stupid, weak, pathetic bunny.

"I'll call you Fluffy," Kyouya says.

"Whatever you want, Hibari," the brunet says instantly. Then he tries to run.

* * *

Fluffy whimpers and desperately clings to the edge of the doorway with one hand, trying his hardest to not be dragged into the next room by the impossibly strong grip on his other wrist.

"Does this count as slavery?" Ryohei wonders, his voice floating out of another room further along as he idly punches a giant centipede in the face.

Takeshi says something but it's too muffled because he's slowly being ingested by a cockroach double his size.

"It's not slavery," Kyouya denies, tugging harder until finally Fluffy lets go and Kyouya can continue pulverising a rat the size of a small car. "Think of it like kidnapping."

Fluffy shrieks as a rat baby launches itself at the brunet's head. Kyouya yanks him to the side with the hand still on Fluffy's wrist and hurls a sickle bone at the rat.

"I won't tell anyone about this, just let me go," Fluffy gasps, clinging to Kyouya's sleeve and staying close because he has no idea what's going on and the most terrifying thing about the situation is that the Chairman is actually the safest to be around.

"No one would believe you anyway, Fluffy," Kyouya says in amusement.

"My name is Tsuna," Fluffy protests weakly.

* * *

Tsuna does manage to escape, because when he plays dead Kyouya finally lets go of him.

Tsuna then spends the rest of the weekend trying to convince his mother to move to the other side of Japan and change their names. She laughs like it's a joke.

It's really not.


	30. Chapter 30

Fon is the one who picks him up at Fiumicino airport. Kyouya slips into the car and the two stay in companionable silence for a while until conversation flows naturally into existence. Fon talks about I-pin, a student he accepted a while back.

Okay, maybe Fon is entirely genuine in his caring for Kyouya, but the man is not actually someone fit for parenthood. Kyouya honestly doesn't know Fon past basics and the Chairman isn't entirely sure how Fon is related biologically, but he does know that Fon isn't cut out for being a father.

The man sometimes happens to be around the Hibari compound and spends most of his time with the children there, always just far away enough that the kids can't grab him and only present when there is another person to handle the situation if a child starts crying or needs actual care past being read stories.

It's like passing the pet shop in the mall. You stop and coo over the puppies but most people never actually get one and bring it home to care for twenty-four seven. It's window shopping.

In fact, Fon would have never asked for Kyouya if the teen hadn't put things into motion in the first place. Now Kyouya is the pet that Fon needs to take care of because the owners have gone on holiday. Fon drops by occasionally, checks that Kyouya has enough food and water, and leaves back to his own house.

Kyouya almost feels pity for the child Fon has decided to keep. If the student isn't wholly independent, then it's either going to die from lack of proper attention or Fon will drop it onto someone else.

Fon is a good person -sometimes- but being a good person doesn't you're a competent one. Anything related to martial arts or fighting and Fon is a literal genius. Branching out into child care means that the intelligence is left behind and Fon can only guess at what he's supposed to be doing.

"You should meet her," Fon suggests.

"And do what?" Kyouya responds in confusion.

Kyouya is probably worse than Fon at taking care of children. He's already murdered two of the herbivores, and it can be argued that his pompadours are more like plants than pets. Incredibly persistent plants that spread like weeds and are just as difficult to get rid of.

Kyouya briefly thinks that he should have brought a pompadour here and left it, just to see what happens, but this trip to Italy was a rushed kind of thing.

He was far too eager to wait, because Kyouya actually grew up on stories of the Arcobaleno.

Every time Fon would visit, he told Kyouya about the group of close friends who would always insist apathetically that they're just acquaintances, yet they would attend every birthday and big holiday and break into each other's houses to have dinner together.

Even now the Arcobaleno are practically a fairy tale to the teenager, complete with the damsel in distress who is always Skull, the fairy godmother who is always Luce, the knight in shining armour who switches between Lal or Fon, the townsman Colonnello who won't go away, and of course the trio of villains (Kyouya likes them the best).

Kyouya barely remembers the very first story, something about Fon meeting Reborn during an assassination, but Kyouya does remember the rush of interest. Back then, he had thought he could find people like that, pre-made carnivores who could hold their own, perfectly willing for Kyouya to use them as an opponent.

Kyouya is older now and he knows he won't be able to have that instant connection with a complete stranger. Sure, there are people out there that can give the teen a great fight, but Kyouya doesn't want them.

No, Kyouya wants the Arcobaleno. He wants the carnivores he already knows are the best.

So when Fon suggested adding them to the game, Kyouya instantly agreed, but only if he could meet them in person. He just hopes they won't disappoint.

The car eventually stops at an isolated house, no neighbours for kilometres. They step outside the car and enter the building, encountering a rather odd mix of people, many of whom are infants. They pause in their conversations and their eyes immediately lock onto Kyouya.

"This is Verde," Fon introduces the adult. "You know him of course."

The scientist shows absolutely no remorse as he nods a greeting back.

"Then Skull, Lal, Colonnello, Viper-"

"Mammon," they correct in irritation.

"Aria and Reborn," Fon finishes. "Everyone, this is Kyouya Hibari."

"It good to finally meet you, Kyouya," Aria greets.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Kyouya says politely, then turns back to the infants. "So have you accepted the terms or are we _negotiating?_ " He says the word 'negotiating' like a threat, but then again he says most things like a threat.

Skull passes over Oodako, Lal gives a master key card to the COMSUBIN military base, Colonnello offers Falco, and Mammon hands over a file containing everything they've been able to find out about Kyouya's ability.

It's not a lot. There are no records of the whole ability and none of their feelers brought back any information, even after isolating certain aspects of Kyouya's power such as vanishing corporeal items and summoning them back. They also tried to look at it from a Mist flame perspective but they couldn't make something so complex without being next to the recipient 24/7, and if they can't, no one can.

Kyouya tucks away the file listing tests and dead leads, irritated but expecting this. He puts the key card into his inventory and lets the octopus wind around his back and shoulders like a backpack, then adjusts Falco on his shoulder. He only has them for the short time he's staying in Italy, so he'll probably be spending most of his time with the animals.

Kyouya turns to Reborn next, rather eager for the fight that he asked for.

"No," the hitman says simply.

Kyouya narrows his eyes. "Why not?"

"Because I don't spar," Reborn explains patronisingly. "I straight up kill people."

"I'm not asking for a spar," Kyouya argues. "Fine, we'll do this to the death."

"And then you die, and I lose what you're promising me," Reborn points out. "I'm not fighting you."

"If you don't fight, I won't help you anyway."

Reborn nods and then turns to leave.

There's a bit of an issue with how this is ending up, because Kyouya hadn't actually expected any of them to say no. Fon looks so grateful whenever he uses the ability, and Verde was willing to risk the martial artist's ire to get it, and Mammon collected the information for free to become an adult again.

Kyouya could just let him walk away, but he wants Reborn. The hitman is not allowed to leave.

"A favour," Kyouya states. "I use you one time, on whatever I want, and you can't say no."

Reborn pause and smirks at him. "That's a lot to ask."

"I'm giving you something you can't get anywhere else. It's the least I could ask."

"No fighting," Reborn orders but does approach Kyouya again.

Kyouya gives them all invitations and they quickly find the skill, forms blurring as they grow to an adult size. Aria finds the skill as well despite being an adult already, and something like hope comes into her eyes as she asks Kyouya to invite someone named Uni.

* * *

.

A/N: I was very close to just leaving Reborn as an infant. He's being so difficult right now.

Also, I know this is jumping around a lot, but we'll get to cannon very soon and it should even out.


	31. Chapter 31

Aria immediately leaves to speak with Uni, having everything she needs from the strange power. The others stay, interested in exploring, and they quickly become entranced with the levels and abilities.

"This game is rigged!" Colonnello cries, shaking Reborn's menu screen as if that will change the stats. "Bullshit you maxed out on Sharpshooting!"

"Did you think you were better than me?" Reborn asks innocently. "Oh, you're so cute when you get all delusional."

Lal rolls her eyes and walks over to them before a fight breaks out, but sees something on Mammon's screen and changes course with a glare on her face. Verde is scrolling through Skull's in boredom while Fon is comparing his unlocked abilities to Colonnello's.

"What's a Patrol?" Skull asks in confusion, staring at the map.

Kyouya lights up like the homicidal little psychopath he is.

* * *

This is everything Kyouya has ever dreamed of. These monsters who call themselves Arcobaleno are so strong that the game creatures are far above Kyouya's level.

The teen is already feeling the burn in his muscles trying to keep up and the Patrol isn't even half cleared. Everything moves at double the speed and hits harder than he's used to. He's not badly injured because Fon won't leave him alone, but he can feel a few large bruises developing.

The Arcobaleno are just knocking the creatures around, carelessly meandering through the sixty level Patrol. They weave between each other, one attack flowing into the next, hitting fast and hard but putting no effort into it at all.

It's not just strength, it's grace and tactics and the easy way they crush bones beneath their heels. It's how they don't hesitate to take the kill shot, how they go for vitals over and over ruthlessly until their opponent doesn't get back up.

And then they joke about it. They're still keeping up a string of insults, laughing when Skull gets chased by mutated Roman gladiators, when Colonnello gets knocked through a wall. They pause to grab Fon and try to hold him still enough for a creature to kill him, but the martial artist kills the poor gladiator and then starts throwing his friends at other creatures.

They don't respond to death like normal people do. Maybe it's because of the mafia influence, but usually people still lock up and panic when faced with their end. Only Fon and Verde have found the multiple lives cheat, but even with the rest, the adrenalin rush doesn't show in their eyes and their smiles don't turn sharp with that edge of madness that Kyouya sees when he threatens someone.

That's what Kyouya likes the most about them. They're having fun with this, not just defending because they have to. They live and breathe danger, so the crack of bones and the emptiness of a fresh corpse doesn't faze them.

This is what Kyouya wants to be when he grows up.

"Kyouya," Fon calls out, ducking a sword and sliding up to the teenager.

Kyouya is leading the charge with Colonnello and Lal, Fon hovering over him like always. Verde is shoving bits and pieces of the creatures into his lab coat pockets to study later while Skull trips around, gaping at everything.

Mammon seems intent on creating more enemies for them to fight, summoning Mist constructs and turning the actual creatures invisible. Reborn is somewhere, probably setting up traps for them because as soon as he stepped into the place he declared that he didn't want to be on a team with Skull.

"What do you think of them?" Fon asks with a knowing smile, keeping his voice low enough that the others can't hear. "It's not Snow White, but I got you all the other princesses."

Kyouya takes a moment but decides that a petty way to annoy Fon is far less important than keeping these people. "Alright," he says. "I accept your offer."

A moment later, a Molotov cocktail filled with Amrack skulls falls through a hole in the ceiling. Reborn smirks down at them and then disappears from view as the explosion hurls the flaming shrapnel in every direction.

Kyouya quickly learns that Reborn is a bit of an asshole.

* * *

.

A/N: Which princesses do you think the Arcobaleno are? (Mammon is the actual Snow White because the Varia are the seven dwarfs hahah.)

For those of you who like **Kyouya and/or Mukuro** , I'm doing a collab fic with Mirufey called **Troublemakers**. It's over on her profile, so go check it out! URL: s/12661615/1/Troublemakers


	32. Chapter 32

Tsuna lazily flails the hose end around in a sad attempt at watering the rose bushes in the front yard. It's boiling hot so he's in flipflops, board shorts and a thin tee for the sole purpose of being able to turn the hose on himself every so often.

He sighs in boredom.

"Tsuna!"

Tsuna's head snaps up to find Kyoko waving to him from the other side of the low fence. She's in a pretty bikini with blue butterflies on a green background, plus a tote bag on one shoulder. A loose scarf thingy is wrapped around her and Tsuna has no idea what it is, or what it's called but he loves how cute it looks on her.

"H-hi, Kyoko," he murmurs back, suddenly very self-conscious about being soaked through.

"Are you almost finished?" Kyoko asks, looking at the garden hose. "I'm going to the pool. Did you want to come?"

"Um, uh-" Tsuna says very eloquently.

"Oh, right!" she cries and laughs. "Sorry, this is probably weird since we don't know each other very well, but my brother was talking about how extreme you were and you seem like a great person." She smiles dazzlingly.

"Yeah, I'm done here," Tsuna blurts out. He drops the hose, turns off the tap and practically skips up to her. This is going to be amazing. Him and Kyoko together at the pool – like a date!

They get three blocks with Tsuna stumbling and stuttering his way through a conversation before Takeshi falls into step with them.

Tsuna's dreams go swirling down the drain as Kyoko and Takeshi greet each other happily and talk about how Ryohei already went on ahead and would meet them there. Yeah, should have expected that one.

Tsuna also should have expected that the pool would be at Hibari Kyouya's house because that's just the kind of day this is turning out to be. He hides behind Takeshi as best as he can because he already tried to bow out, citing that he actually had homework, but Kyoko looked sad and Tsuna is a failure of a human being, so he just crumpled like wet tissue paper.

They end up winding through the huge place and finding Ryohei in a room near the back, half of one wall taken up with kickboards and surfboards of all types. Takeshi and Kyoko drops their bags at the edge and sit on the floor next to a low table with some fruit on it.

The three easily fall into conversation, but Tsuna hovers awkwardly and ends up pretending that he's totally interested in the view out of the window – no, not feeling like he's intruding at all.

He walks over and leans on it with his elbows, chin falling into raised hands. He actually does like the view – it's a large pool in the middle with a lush garden surrounding it.

He glances down and freezes, just now realising that the DC Chairman is sitting in the grass with his back to the house. Tsuna wants to duck back but he knows the other three can see him so he'll look like an idiot if he cringes away.

He starts to casually lean back but gets a bit curious about the translucent blue screen held between Kyouya's hands, the older teen's fingers hovering over arrow keys in one corner and buttons in the other.

Tsuna is a gamer at heart. He once got a seventy-six on his maths test because he really wanted a new game. Tsuna usually gets _thirties_ in maths – that's how much he wanted it. He studied for a _week straight_ to get that.

So Tsuna leans forward again, intent on examining what might be some kind of high tech game console that only rich people like Hibari can afford. There's nothing much happening, just a tall man in a suit and fedora striding down a hallway (and wow the graphics are amazing – what kind of rendering power do you need for that?).

The company must have spent a lot on the character design because Tsuna is one hundred percent in love with Kyoko but he's definitely admiring tall, dark and handsome. Even the cute little curls brushing the man's jaw line adds to the attraction.

Kyouya fiddles with the controls and the man ducks low around the hallway's corner. Several bullets skim over his head as he snatches a knife from the closest opponent and slides it straight through ribs. The man drops.

Tsuna is loving this game so far – there was no hesitation between the character's movements. Sometimes you get that stutter if you link attacks, but this was sleek. Clearly, Tsuna is going to have to sell his soul to Kyouya for a few moments alone with the game.

Kyouya slides his thumb across the screen and the character moves forward, grabbing the gun arm of his next enemy and whirling them around just so their comrades can see the expression on their face as Kyouya's character slits the man's throat open.

The character tosses the body down and steps over it as he continues forward. Of the two left, one starts sprinting away. The knife spins through the air, blade over handle, and lodges in the man's neck. He drops and the momentum carries the corpse across the carpet for a few short seconds.

The last staggers back and hits a wall, terrified. Kyouya's character reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out a gun with a silencer already attached. The character smirks and flicks off the safety.

Tsuna winces when the enemy turns his gun on himself and takes his own life. That is maybe the single most amazing thing Tsuna has seen in a video game -the attention to detail is incredible- but it's a bit too dark for Tsuna to be entirely confortable.

Tsuna does still love it though. It's probably a short teaser version of a full game or something like that. There's no way that many special attacks are included with the small amount of controls Kyouya has. Probably demonstrative, Tsuna admits.

The screen disappears and Tsuna blinks in confusion for a moment.

"Herbivore."

Tsuna slowly looks down to where Kyouya has his head tilted back to stare at the brunet. Tsuna cracks a painfully awkward smile. "Uhhhhh heeeey."

"Yo~" Takeshi chimes in, leaning over Tsuna's shoulder. "Are you done with the game yet?"

Kyouya hums and stands smoothly. "Bring the platforms with you."

"Time for training," Kyoko says excitedly.

"Training?" Tsuna echoes worriedly.


	33. Chapter 33

Tsuna helps as Takeshi, Ryohei and Kyoko move the assortment of boards out to the pool, laying them down randomly. Then he steps back and watches as they all cautiously move onto the only three surfboards.

Kyouya is scrawling something onto a chalkboard propped up by the house. He seems to be setting up a table to keep a tally. Kyouya drops the chalk when he's done and then walks to the edge of the pool before stepping onto a platform.

Takeshi moves first, quickly skipping across the smaller foam blocks towards Ryohei. Tsuna watches in fascination as the two grapple and try to throw each other off the floating pieces. Kyouya slides up behind Ryohei and hooks a foot around the younger teen's ankle.

The boxer makes a huge splash as he hits the water, dragging Takeshi down with him. Kyoko bends her knees and braces herself as Kyouya circles around her. He jumps onto her surfboard with enough power that it half flips. He leaps away as she slides off and into the pool.

Tsuna is honestly waiting for Kyouya to follow the three into the water and then drown them.

"Do you understand?" Kyouya asks.

Tsuna blinks and has to look over his shoulder but nope Kyouya is definitely talking to him. "Uh…"

Takeshi laughs as he clambers out of the pool. "It's a pretty cool game. You have to knock each other into the water."

"It's extreme balance training," Ryohei chimes in, pushing himself up onto the surfboard.

Kyoko wanders over to the chalkboard and gestures Tsuna over as well. "You get one point if you drag someone in, two if you stay up and they get knocked over, and three if you don't even touch them." She draws five tallys next to Kyouya's name and one next to Ryohei's.

"Doesn't sound that bad," Tsuna admits.

Maybe it's because he's expecting some weird acid trip where there's giant rats and cockroaches hungry for his flesh. That was a terrifying nightmare, but then what was he expecting? He ran into Hibari Kyouya and then fainted – clearly he was going to have strange dreams of being dragged to Hell.

Tsuna resolutely ignores the small voice in his head that says everything actually happened and he should get away now while he still can.

"Come on," Kyoko says happily and takes his hand.

Tsuna is halfway to saying that he's totally fine watching them, but his voice dies in his throat when Kyoko holds his hand again. Tsuna isn't saying that he'd be okay with dying right at this moment, but the hand holding would definitely make the sudden death not as bad as it could be.

* * *

Tsuna was lying. There is no amount of hand holding that can make him want to continue this suffering.

He's too tired to shriek when Kyouya vanishes and reappears on the same platform as Tsuna. The brunet is so tired and he's dripping wet and probably half his lung capacity is filled with chlorinated water because this is not training – this is complete and utter annihilation for six torturous hours.

Kyouya dismissively shoves at Tsuna's chest and twists on his heel to go after Takeshi, who is smartly running away.

Tsuna just… he just really doesn't want to go into the water again.

Tsuna latches onto Kyouya's forearm with both hands before the older teen can retract his limb and then hauls himself upright. Not only is it unexpected, but Tsuna's whole body weight plus the awkward angle -since Kyouya is half turned away- means that the DC Chairman is thrown from the board before he can get his balance back.

The small splash is loud in the dead silence.

Tsuna makes a high pitched, distressed noise in the back of his throat. "Wowlookatthetimegottagookaybye."

He gets halfway across the backyard before a kickboard to the knees takes him down. Tsuna starts desperately crawling away but a foot stomps on his back and pins him to the grass.

Kyouya stares down at the interesting bunny who wriggles pathetically. "I think… we should have a sleepover."

"I love sleepovers!" Kyoko says excitedly.

Takeshi grins brightly. "I know some really great horror stories! Let's do a campfire!"

"EXTREME BONDING!"

Tsuna sobs quietly. "Please just end it quickly."

* * *

Tsuna spends the entire night getting a crash course in some weird shared hallucination where it's an MMORPG and there's respawn (thankfully not demonstrated) and creatures to fight, plus you can't forget about quests or grinding to level up.

Then Kyouya invites him into the Hunt and that same screen pops up – the one right before Tsuna was dragged into fighting centipedes the length of a small flag pole. Tsuna accepts because he's not sure if he can say no.

They go over stats and levels and game mechanics and maybe Tsuna actually drowned in the pool and he's in a coma right now. That would make more sense.

Tsuna nods along to the explanations but he probably knows more than everyone in the room. He usually skips school to read manga and play games all day so he's pretty much an expert already.

He's just going to play along for now, and when he gets home he'll sleep all day and then try again to convince his mum to live in Australia. Yeah, Australia sounds nice. Tsuna only has to fight giant spiders over there.

* * *

.

A/N: I used to play 'the floor is water' game with friends except we were all shit at it. The chapters aren't very interesting right now but we'll soon get into Daily arc.

And then it'll be even more boring.

Is anyone even still following this story?


	34. Chapter 34

Tsuna somehow staggers home in the morning, barefoot and not even caring. He tiredly knocks on his front door and waits for his mum to open it. He was a bit too eager to follow Kyoko so he forgot his keys and wallet and phone and pretty much his brain as well.

He's exhausted from Hibari's 'training' and from staying up the entire night listening to their explanations about the blue screens. Tsuna would honestly love it if it was real, but he probably just swallowed too much water, that's all. Giant rats? That's not a thing. It can't be. Oh, but Tsuna wishes.

"Thanks," Tsuna mutters as the door opens.

"You're welcome," a low voice purrs.

Tsuna stares at a perfectly done up black tie and slowly tilts his head back to see two curly locks of hair framing a wicked smirk, topped off with a black fedora.

Tsuna sighs heavily and reaches out, patting the man on the chest where Tsuna can feel the outline of what is definitely a gun. "Excuse me, but I'm too tired to have a mental breakdown right now. Maybe tomorrow?"

The character from Kyouya's game chuckles. "It's funny that you think you have a choice."

"I love your voice," Tsuna admits, carelessly brushing past and collapsing onto the couch. "Who designed you? Was it an indie group? You have that kind of unique art style look about you. Almost too pretty."

The man raises an eyebrow at Tsuna and pulls the door shut behind him. He walks to the couch and stops in front of the teen. "Do you take medication for this?" He gestures at Tsuna.

"I probably should," Tsuna hums. "But nothing over the counter would help and I don't want to worry mum, you know?" He pats the seat next to him. "You can sit down – wait, never mind, don't move from there. You're really nice to look at."

The man narrows his eyes, starting to look annoyed.

"So do you have a storyline?" Tsuna wonders. "You'd be wasted on a boring PUBG clone -ahem Fortnite- and I guess you could fit the OP Ex Machina archetype in the usual character selections, but a whole game to yourself would make more sense."

"My name is Reborn and I'm the World's Greatest Hitman," the character -Reborn- says, officially ignoring Tsuna now. "I'm here to train you as the next boss of Vongola."

"Or we could just cuddle," Tsuna suggests because this is a hallucination and there are no consequences.

The backdoor creaks open and shuts with a rattle, Nana appearing around the corner a few seconds later. "Tsu-kun, you're home," she says with a smile. "This is Reborn, your new home tutor! Isn't he so handsome?"

Tsuna blinks slowly. He remembers a throwaway comment from Takeshi, something about being able to screen peek on others in the Hunt. So what if… what if Kyouya wasn't playing a game?

Reborn smiles, slow and sharp. "First lesson: know your place. If you mess with people stronger, you _will_ get destroyed."

Tsuna watches as if in slow motion as the hitman pulls out a gun and points it straight at Nana. The sharp _crack_ cuts straight through Tsuna.

Nana's head snaps back from the impact and she crumples to the floor.

In his periphery, Tsuna knows Reborn is lowering his gun and stepping towards Tsuna, but the teen is a bit distracted with the _corpse of his mother_.

Reborn gently takes Tsuna's chin in one hand and turns the boy's head to face him. "Don't mock me," Reborn says simply. "It hurts my feelings."

Tsuna's vision starts to grow a bit distorted at the edges, his breathing ragged. Suddenly he can feel every heartbeat that rattles his ribcage

"Oh," Reborn murmurs with a smirk. "Cute. You're having a panic attack. Okay, second lesson: always remain in control. You're going to be a mafia boss, someone will inevitably be watching. Come on, breath with me. In… one, two. Out… one, two. In… That's it."

Tsuna is shaking, just shivering like it's freezing cold but he's so hot on the inside, burning up. His breathing evens out and his vision clears but all he can see is the two black buttons for eyes on this _monster's_ face.

Reborn chuckles. "And there's the anger. Lesson three: keep a cool head and don't jump to conclusions."

Tsuna feels the man's fingers tighten on his chin and his head is forced to turn back to – to –

Reborn leans down, his lips brushing Tsuna's ear. "Where is the blood?" he whispers.

Tsuna sucks in a gasp of air like he was drowning before and he's tearing out of Reborn's grip, scrambling across the room to collapse beside his mum, fingers on her wrist to check the strong pulse there.

No blood. There's no blood. Her head went back, there's a dark red mark on her forehead, something definitely hit but didn't break skin, what-

Tsuna's eyes land on a clearly fake bullet lying innocently on the floor a meter away. It's bright pink, probably rubber or plastic just by looking at its sheen under the ceiling lights.

Tsuna slowly turns back to Reborn. "She fainted."

"Obviously," Reborn drawls. "What, you think I'd waste a bullet on a civilian housewife? Mine are custom made, you know."

"Wh-why would you…"

"I don't like to be told to 'sit and look pretty'," Reborn admits easily. "I have gotten it too many times, from too many people, to tolerate it when I don't have to. Refer to me as an object again and I'll pull out your kidneys through your nose, okay? You are a hundred years too young and about three armies short of ever being able to talk to me like that."

Reborn smirks. "But to be honest, I mostly just thought it'd be funny. It was, by the way."

Tsuna nods slowly. "I think I'm…uh…"

"Are you sure?" Reborn asks mildly. "There's a clear threat in your house and you have no back up coming."

"I don't think I can stop it," Tsuna breathes out, swaying.

"I guess we did get through three lessons," Reborn hums. "Alright, you've earned a nap."

The world tilts and Tsuna is unconscious before he hits the floor.

* * *

.

A/N: I very much underestimated the reader count for this fic. Thank you for sticking with me!

I hope you like the chapter even though I'm a bit shaky with how I want to categorize Reborn. I think this hitman might be a bit more serious than regular canon but also crueller. Slapstick from a baby you can brush off, psychological warfare you cannot.


	35. Chapter 35

Tsuna's eyes snap open and he blinks blearily at the sun pouring through his window. A glance at his bedside clock says it's around eleven. How did he get here from Kyouya's hou-

Tsuna lurches out of bed, still wearing a t-shirt and board shorts. He stands in his room for a moment, trying to digest everything that's happened. "Mum?" he calls out, staggering out of his room and down the hall. "Mum, are you home?!" He checks her bedroom but she's not there.

"In here, Tsun-kun!" Nana calls back.

Tsuna backtracks and half runs down the hallway again before bursting into the spare room, where Nana's sewing supplies are set up. She looks up from where she's rummaging around in the scrap fabric bag and smiles at him, no hint of a bruise on her forehead.

"How was your nap?" Nana asks.

"Good," Tsuna says quietly. "How are you… feeling?"

"A bit embarrassed, really," Nana admits with a giggle. "I know I'm scared of grasshoppers, but I didn't think I'd faint if one jumped on me."

Tsuna stares, incredulous.

Nana searches the bag a bit more before she hums victoriously. "Look at this," she says happily, holding up a bit of black fabric and a yellow ribbon. "Wouldn't it be adorable if Leon had the same hat as Reborn? Go down and keep him company," Nana shoos him away. "I'm going to make a little present to say thank you for him being your tutor."

"Okay," Tsuna murmurs. "Stay up here, mum. I'll – I'll deal with it."

He slips out of the room and pulls the door shut before charging down the stairs. The man isn't in the living room so Tsuna peeks into the kitchen where he finds the hitman reading the newspaper.

"Why are you still here?" Tsuna blurts out. "It's broad daylight outside, doesn't your character retreat into a safe house or something?"

He admits that this isn't a hallucination but there's no way in hell this man is an actual person. He has to be a character – what kind of person goes around talking their way into people's houses and shooting rubber bullets?

Tsuna was wrong about the screen peeking mechanic. Kyouya must have been looking at the creature profiles that Ryohei briefly mentioned. Kyouya commented on a zombie ruler called King and Takeshi said something about a spider girl. If Kyouya's strange screens can conjure up these creatures that look human, then they can summon a fictional hitman as well.

Reborn observes Tsuna for a moment before he smirks. "If you were listening last night you would have realised. You unlocked a protagonist route and I'm here as your tutor." He shrugs as he folds the newspaper neatly and drops it onto the table.

"I don't want to be a protagonist!" Tsuna cries but at least there's confirmation of Reborn being controlled by the screens.

"You really don't get a choice in the matter," Reborn says. "Now come sit down." He pats the table beside him, beckoning Tsuna over. "You have several storylines that we need to talk about."

"Storylines?" Tsuna mumbles, hesitantly edging over to take a seat. This is all tying in to what Kyouya said, and Tsuna isn't sure if he's happy about this all being the same problem or concerned that it's so widespread.

"Every protagonist starts out the same," Reborn explains. "You get about a month to train and then your stats determine what route you go with. There are three basic routes. If you want to be a magical girl you need high charisma, so that's out. You might make a slice of life hero, but I'd get bored and kill everyone so a hard pass on that."

Tsuna shrinks back in his chair.

Reborn smiles charmingly after that calm threat about mass murder. "The last one left is a mafia route; fast cars, beautiful women, espresso. You'll love it. Let's do that."

Tsuna takes a deep breath. "Um, okay, but I… need to talk with some friends. Because of. Reasons."

Reborn watches as Tsuna stands woodenly and then awkwardly gestures for Reborn. The man raises an eyebrow but stands anyway and follows Tsuna out of the house.

* * *

Kyouya glances up when the door bursts open and the bunny trips in before practically diving behind the older teenager. The hitman appears in the doorway next, much to Kyouya's delight.

"You brought me the hitman," Kyouya muses as he pats the fluffy herbivore on the head. "Well done."

The herbivore stares up at Kyouya with wide eyes. "Get rid of him," Tsuna hisses. "Put him back into the screen."

Kyouya glances between Tsuna and Reborn, quickly realising what the misunderstanding is about. The herbivore did seem a bit hysterical and a whole lot disbelieving when Kyouya attempted to explain the system, so Tsuna must be confused. "He's not a part of the game," Kyouya states.

"I don't think you quite understand," Tsuna whispers, though Reborn can definitely hear them anyway. "Your screens summoned a hitman who sauntered into my house, declared himself my tutor _and then shot my mum_."

Kyouya blinks at Reborn. "You shot his mother?"

"I shot _your_ mother," Reborn retorts with a teasing lit to his tone.

Kyouya raises an eyebrow, not expecting the moronic and childish comeback of _'no you'_ , as if the hitman was one of the peace disturbing herbivores at Kyouya's school. "My mother is dead," Kyouya deadpans, because that usually shuts people up.

"I know," Reborn hums, black eyes filled with amusement. "I was there."

A blue screen flares to life in front of Reborn's face, the chat rapidly filling with Chinese characters. Reborn waves it away and speaks into the air. "Fon, if you keep abusing the privilege, then I'm turning off screen peeking."

Reborn's phone starts ringing and the hitman sighs.

"Excuse me," Reborn says to the two frozen teenagers. He pulls out his phone and leaves back through the front door so he can speak privately with Fon.

Kyouya turns slowly to face Tsuna. "You are… very lucky to have a carnivore like that as your mentor."

The herbivore gapes at Kyouya. "Wha – he – your mother is – and I… I have clearly interpreted that conversation wrong because I though he just said he killed your mum."

"He did," Kyouya agrees. "I despise my mother, so he did me a favour. Now I understand why Fon enjoys his presence so much despite the hitman's refusal to fight." Kyouya claps a hand over Tsuna's shoulder. "Grow strong, little animal, or the hitman is going to make sure you die trying."

The herbivore swallows audibly.

* * *

.

A/N: Now we're back to Kyouya, I just had to set up Reborn's involvement.

Also, is it still breaking the fourth wall if they don't know they're breaking it? (Because Tsuna is technically a protagonist.)


	36. Chapter 36

Fon arrives the next day, apparently worried that the hitman might have upset Kyouya, which is a ridiculous concern because Kyouya does not have feelings like an herbivore.

"I understand," Fon says calmly. "But if Reborn ever crosses a line-"

"Enough," Kyouya snaps, coming to a halt and turning to face the man. "You've already made me late for patrolling. If you follow me into school then I will bite you to death."

"I am not in the school," Fon points out happily. It's technically true, because he is standing just outside the front gate.

"Go. Home," Kyouya deadpans.

Fon holds up his hands, covered by long sleeves, in surrender and smiles serenely. "I'll pick you up after school."

"No."

"Have a good day, Kyo-"

"-WITH MY DYING WI - gurk!"

Kyouya lowers his outstretched arm after using a coathanger to stop the half naked bunny. The herbivore pops right back up after getting an arm to the throat, head literally on fire, and then screams something about confessing into Kyouya's face before sprinting off.

Fon waits patiently at the gate for Reborn to saunter up. "Good morning."

"Chaos," Reborn greets back. "Have you seen a little brunet, pathetic looking, maybe this tall, run by?" Reborn holds up a hand around lower chest height on him to show how tall the brunet is supposed to be.

"Well," Fon muses. "I didn't catch the hair colour since the boy was on fire, and I was thinking more pitiful due to him being half naked, but he was around that height, yes."

"Ah," Reborn murmurs with a smirk. "Perhaps I should have lead with the 'on fire' part."

Fon gestures behind him, to where Kyouya has Tsuna in a choke hold on the floor of the school yard. "Is that him?"

"Maybe," Reborn hums.

Tsuna's struggling is getting weaker.

Mochida Kensuke watches the brutal judo pin and decides to not get involved with the DC demon. He promptly turns and walks away because he's already being practically blackmailed into teaching a few DC plus one Takeshi some beginner's kendo. Except with actual, razor sharp swords.

Kensuke should have just let the demon die in the gym.

"Extreme boxing!" Ryohei roars and charges in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd to reach the extreme fight.

Takeshi laughs and jogs along behind the boxer because his self-preservation is non-existent.

Reborn turns back to Fon. There's a cool down period so he has to wait an hour before he can shoot Tsuna again. In the meanwhile… "Do you want to buy me an espresso?"

"Not particularly," Fon says honestly.

"Are you going to buy me one anyway?"

Fon sighs. "Most likely."

* * *

Tsuna is dazed and groggy when he wakes up, but it's mostly his cold feet that urge him awake. He doesn't recognise the room but he definitely knows whose jacket is laid over his shoulders and he can certainly tell who's sitting behind a large desk on the other side of the room.

Kyouya glances up from his paperwork. "Clothes are on the coffee table."

Tsuna sits up woodenly from the couch. Is he in the DC room? He spies the neatly folded clothes and quickly dresses.

"So," Kyouya muses. "How high were you when you charged into my school?"

"High?" Tsuna squeaks. "N-no, I was shot. By Reborn!"

"Shot?" Kyouya echoes. "You don't seem the type to use needles. What was it, heroine?"

"No!" Tsuna wails. "It wasn't drugs! Reborn literally shot me, with like a-a mafia bullet! It starts a cut scene or something and I had no control over my character – uh, I mean body."

Kyouya pauses. "Mafia?"

Tsuna nods rapidly and words spill out of his mouth without any conscious input from him, repeating everything Reborn explained about the game route Tsuna stats are suited for.

Kyouya says nothing, wondering if Reborn is using the screens as a way to intimidate or as a way to comfort the herbivore by giving Tsuna something to cling to that he already understands.

"I'm just… panicked," Tsuna says quietly. He's not sure why he's telling Kyouya. They're not close, the older teen wouldn't care, but Tsuna needs to talk and he really doesn't have any other friends. "I'm freaking out over Reborn and the whole mafia thing."

Kyouya hums. "That is a very difficult situation. Some people, like the hitman, are so full of themselves that others just can't fit. He will push and pull and tear you apart until you follow his path, however little there is of you left when he's done, and he'll only respond to strength."

That's why Kyouya admires the hitman so much.

"What, am I supposed to get stronger than him and then refuse?" Tsuna asks, a little hysterical. "Besides, he doesn't seem the type to get respectful just because someone survived him."

"True," Kyouya accepts. "But what I mean is that the only way you win is creating your own future. If he gives you two choices, pick a third. That is the strength I refer to, and while being able to fight will allow you even more options, it's really not necessary. Just figure out the rules to your situation and move around them."

"And I would get that information how? I only have Reborn and even then, he's certainly not talking."

"Have you tried?" Kyouya raises an eyebrow.

"I… no."

"Then try, and when that doesn't work, try something else. It's common sense, herbivore," Kyouya shrugs.

Tsuna lets out a weak little laugh. "You make it sound so easy."

"Because it is. If you don't like the situation, change it," Kyouya states with the confidence of someone who rules over a small town and can deadlift a hundred kilos easy. "What, do you think I hatched into teenager form, already able to punch through brick walls?"

That was actually one of Tsuna's guesses. Either that or Kyouya is an alien who landed on earth to destroy the planet, Dragon Ball style.

* * *

.

A/N: I'm trying to go back to Kyouya-centric but I also want to show how Tsuna slowly comes to terms with his new pet hitman. Good news though; finally into cannon territory!

To **burntdream** : Yes, at 400 reviews I'll write a mini-game as a thank you to everyone who reads this. It was supposed to be at 300 but we hit that milestone and I… um, kind of forgot so we're going to 400 now. I think it might be a Red Riding Hood one, or maybe a Disney Princess…? I'm hovering between the two.


	37. Chapter 37

Reborn shows up during lunch time with his nth espresso of the day in one hand and Fon's sleeve in the other.

"Are you trying to hide from me?" Reborn mocks when he sits on the bench beside Tsuna.

Tsuna's usual lunch spot is in a little forgotten corner where the wooden bench is chipped away until only a hint of it's original green paint is still visible. It's pressed up against the school's fence and partially hidden by a large mass of bushes.

Reborn looks around, amused. "You're such a loser. Do you actually have no friends to sit with?"

Tsuna stares down at his packed lunch and tries to suppress the crippling shame. It's not that he doesn't have friends…

"Leave him alone," Fon berates, ushering Reborn over a bit so he can sit down as well. Fon leans forward to see past Reborn and smiles at Tsuna. "It's okay to want some time to yourself-"

"But he's hardly here because he wants to be," Reborn interrupts. "I bet no one likes him because of how ugly he is."

Tsuna quickly looks away. Is he ugly? He knows he's not the best but he's tolerable… right?

Fon snatches Reborn's espresso out of the hitman's hands and tosses it up onto the fence a few meters away. It lands neatly, perfectly balanced.

"Fon," Reborn complains.

"Whoops, my hand slipped," Fon deadpans. "Better go get that before it falls."

Reborn huffs but stands up and stomps over to his drink.

"He likes to play," Fon tells Tsuna, sliding over on the bench so when Reborn comes back Tsuna has a buffer. "The mafia fights with words as much as they fight with fists. Reborn will probably say these kinds of things until you can shake it off when someone actually does try to throw you."

Is Fon playing the game too? Tsuna calms down a lot when he realises this insult thing will probably be apart of the gameplay later. Maybe he'll have to really subtly insert double meanings when he greets other mafia bosses, like in all the western movies.

Reborn laughs. "Hear that, Dame-Tsuna? When I insult you I'm just trying to help you. Be grateful." The hitman kicks the metal fence and the cup drops into his hand.

Fon smiles. "Or maybe Reborn is just a sadistic bastard and he gets off on destroying people. Either way, it's best to ignore him."

Tsuna glances between them, wide eyed. Wait, so is this a tutorial or not?

Reborn stops beside the bench and lays a hand on Fon's shoulder. "Have I told you how fat you're looking today? Maybe you should stop stuffing your face with mapo tofu, it's clearly doing nothing for your figure."

Fon looks at him fondly.

"And is that a split end I see?" Reborn muses, lifting Fon's braid and wiggling it around. "You know steroids are bad for your hair."

"I don't take steroids," Fon says in a tone that means they've had this conversation multiple times before.

"Likely story," Reborn murmurs, lazily slapping Fon's face with the man's own hair.

Fon grabs Reborn and pulls the hitman down onto the bench so Reborn will stop playing with the braid. "Can you not go one second without being difficult?"

"If I'm so difficult then why are you still here?"

"Stockholm syndrome."

Someone clears their throat and the three look over to find Kyouya with his tonfas out. Fon looks a little impressed at Kyouya's homing ability because he's only been here for ten minutes at most. Tsuna is slowly becoming more confused because is this a tutorial or not?

"Get out of my school," Kyouya orders.

Fon pats Reborn's hip. "Up you get, we have to go."

"Not him," Kyouya specifies. "He can stay."

Reborn smirks. "Bye bye, Fon." He wiggles his fingers in a cutesy wave.

Fon raises his hands in surrender and easily flips over the three meter high fence. Then he stands there with a ditzy smile on his face that looks mocking.

"Don't test me," Kyouya threatens.

"I'm not in your school," Fon points out.

"You are in my town."

"Fon gets lonely sometimes," Reborn tells Kyouya. "Let him stand there, poor thing starts crying if no one looks after him."

"Fine," Fon sighs. "I'm going."

"Wait," Reborn calls out. He takes a last sip and tosses his now empty cup to Fon.

Kyouya waits until Fon disappears behind a row of houses before he turns to Reborn and Tsuna. "Ask your questions and then send him up to me."

Reborn looks at Tsuna and the boy chickens out.

"Oh, look at the time, class is about to start," Tsuna blurts out. He doesn't have questions prepared and Reborn is too intimidating to do this on the fly.

Kyouya watches with a flat expression as Tsuna escapes. "Never mind then. Hitman, with me. We need to lay some ground rules if you're going to be 'playing a mafia game'."

Kyouya strides off but pauses when he realises Reborn isn't following. The hitman has an arm slung over the back of the bench while the other is propped up on his crossed knees.

Kyouya walks back and only stops when his knees are pressing into the hitman's. "This is not Italy anymore. Learn to behave yourself."

"It's not that you're… _not_ intimidating," Reborn begins kindly. "For a… what, sixteen? For a sixteen year old you've got quite the skill with killing intent, but I'm not a civilian, and frankly you're not nearly the worst I've seen."

Reborn leans forward, peering up at Kyouya through his eyelashes. "I can play if you want. I can pretend that your strength might just catch up to me one day. I can fake being threatened by you, or awed by the… ha, 'power' that you've amassed here. But you've got to give me some compensation."

Kyouya tilts his head. "How about your body? Is that not enough _compensation_?"

"I am grateful for this form," Reborn waves off, leaning back again. "And don't worry, I will pay you back. I've been given permission to select Dame-Tsuna's Guardians - the people he'll delegate to the most."

"You want me to work for the bunny?" Kyouya asks sceptically. "That is the extent of your gratefulness? A job?"

"The Vongola isn't a little family that deals weed to elitist suburban housewives," Reborn explains patiently to the civilian. "It's one of the largest powerhouses in the mafia. That means strength and contacts far beyond anything you could get yourself."

Kyouya purses his lips. "And I would control it?"

"Let's go with that," Reborn offers up, amused.

"I need to prepare," Kyouya realises, tucking away his tonfas. "The Disciplinary Committee will be expanding."

Kyouya turns away but pauses and looks back, grabbing Reborn by the back of the neck and leaning in close. "You're a good investment," Kyouya praises. "When I absorb the Vongola I'll keep you."

Reborn slams a knee into Kyouya's abdomen hard enough that the teen doubles over and retches, almost throwing up. He collapses onto his knees, arms curled around his stomach and heaving as pain radiates out. Fuck, it's a broken rib.

"I'm not Vongola," Reborn explains casually as he stands. "Just doing a favour for a good friend. But sure, when you can _make me_ , then I'll be your hitman."

Reborn heads off to find Dame-Tsuna. He still hasn't made the boy cry yet but the day is young.


End file.
